The Trials and Stories of Miko
by The Prime Writer
Summary: There is a lot more to the past of Miko Nakadai then meets the eye. She didn't come from Japan as an exchange student; she came to protect her only true family...and hide from those who aren't. Miko is trying to escape that past and start a new life. But one day, all those secrets will catch up to her and her friends; and when they do, she will need their help more then ever.
1. Miko's Secrets, part 1

Greetings to anyone and everyone who sees this message. For those of you who don't yet know me, this is the Prime Writer, a Fanfiction writer who's still a relative rookie on this site…at least by the time I submit this chapter. To those who already know me, welcome back. If you haven't read my first two fanfiction stories, I suggest you do so, though I won't get upset if you don't want to. This is my third fanfiction story, and my first one involving the TV show Transformers: Prime. I didn't really like the transformers series until I saw that series; now its one of my favorite shows. My favorite Autobot characters are Arcee and Smokescreen, my favorite Decepticon characters are Starscream and Knockout, and my favorite human character is Miko, whom I believe has a good chance of being recklessness incarnate. This story is partially by an M-rated story created by the Author called Foxbear called "Dirty Little Secrets" that I found a while back (little perving, a few swear words, and no "couples in bed" in case your wondering; instead it involves mentions of human trafficking and sexual abuse, criminals, forced abortions, and a bunch of other bad stuff) that showed Miko having a very different past then what is given on the show. I intend to do something similar, but with a T-rating to be on the safe side while still allowing it to be read by others. It essentially show's a whole different side of Miko that catches her friends completely by surprise when they find out, even though she tries her best to hide it. Just so you know, this story begins after the episode "Grill" and before the episode "Armada". I will try to follow the episodes in order as much as possible while making it so that Miko's past plays a major role, and makign sure that some chapters are all my creation. Transformers: Prime is the property of the TV channel called "The Hub", which is partially owned by Hasbro. With the info and the disclaimer both out of the way, here's the first chapter of another potentially good story.

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Chapter 1: Miko's Secrets, Part 1

* * *

Jasper, Nevada was a typical small desert town: low crime-rate, not a lot to do, hot and dry half the year, cold and dry the other half. Everyone knows everyone, local news travels quickly, and all the people in town (about 600) contentedly do their jobs before going home to the family…almost everyone.

Just outside the lone high school in town, Jasper High, three people were just leaving the building. One was a fairly tall 16-year-old boy with black hair, lightly-tanned skin, and grey-blue eyes, wearing blue-jeans, sneakers, and a dark-grey long-sleeve shirt.

The second boy was much shorter then the first and four years younger, with the same lightly-tanned skin, but he also has brown eyes and spiky brown hair, and is wearing a collared, long-sleeved white shirt with and orange-brown vest over it, blue-jeans, sneakers, and red-rimmed glasses.

The girl in the group has pale skin, Asian facial features, a petite body, golden-brown eyes, shoulder-length black hair tied up in twin pig-tales, has pink highlights in the pig-tales and the front of her hair, and is wearing knee-high black-and-purple boots, blue and purple pants, a yellow belt, and light-purple short-sleeve shirt with a dark-blue tank-top over it, the latter of which has a green, robotic anime character on it. These people are, in order, Jack Darby, Rafael "Raf" Esquivel, and Miko Nakadai.

Jack Darby is a responsible young man whose dad divorced from his mom when he was 9. As a result, he is very close to her, keeping a crappy job at a local burger joint to help pay for groceries and small bills. Rafael, called Raf by his friends, is a very shy but extremely intelligent 12-year-old kid who has a knack for computer technology. Miko is a Japanese exchange student with a spunky attitude and **waaaaayyyyyy **too much of a zest for life by any standards; i.e., she is incredibly reckless. Currently, they were heading for their rides in the parking lot.

Jack's ride is a cobalt-blue motorcycle with pink highlights, Rafael's is a sleek yellow muscle-car with black racing stripes, and Miko's is a green, 4x4 off-road SUV. After getting on their respective vehicles, they drove off towards the same destination: a fairly large mesa a few miles outside of the desert. While driving towards their destination, Jack broke the silence, seemingly talking to his motorcycle.

"Yet again, we have endured another long day of school trying to gain the knowledge required to past tests while avoiding the mega-jerk known as Vince." Surprisingly, the motorcycle responded in a feminine, slightly metallic voice, its dashboard flashing as it did so. "Let me guess: he picked on you and Raf at lunch, again." Jack however didn't seem surprised and casually answere the bike. "Pretty much." Miko spoke next over the bike's radio.

"I really wish you guys would just show yourselves to Vince and scare the you-know-what out of him." The symbol in the middle of the SUV's steering wheel, which looks like a robotic face, flashed blue as the SUV spoke. "As much as Vince probably deserves it, Optimus, Ratchet and Fowler would _not_ be pleased if we did that, no matter the reason." Over both radios, a series of seemingly random beeping and whirring noises came from the Urbana. Jack looked a bit confused. "Raf, translation please."

Sitting in the Urbana, Raf responded with "Bee's saying maybe we should have let Knockout take him." The sentient bike spoke again. "Sorry Bee, but Optimus wouldn't allow that either…but it is tempting to transform in front of him just to see the look on his face." By then, they were nearing the mesa. Once they were as close to the mesa as the road would take them, they went _off _the road and headed towards the mesa. Once they were within a few hundred feet of the mesa, a secret door, disguised to look like part of the mesa, opened for them to drive in. After they drove into that door, which closed behind them, they drove another 30 meters before stopping in the main room of the abandoned missile silo that once occupied the mesa.

Standing in front of a bank of computers **far **too large for a human to use is a 30-foot-tall robotic being with blue 'eyes', white and red-orange armor with red-orange stripes on his forearms, and a semi-scowl on a grey-colored, well-worn face. Looking in the direction of the engine noise, the robot's scowl deepened slightly before he asked "Isn't it a little early for school to end?" Miko answered as she got out of the SUV.

"We had a half day doc-bot, meaning more time for us to spend at the base." The robot just growled under his breath and said, with much sarcasm "Well that's just great. And why do you keep calling me doc; my name is **Ratchet**." As he said that, the three sentient vehicles began expanding and shifting, with the sounds of gears turning coming from them; when the changes were done, what were once vehicles were now three massive robots similar to the first one.

The motorcycle had become a 25- foot-tall female robot with cobalt-blue armor and pink highlights in her face, wrists, elbows, and lower legs. The Urbana had become a mostly yellow robot a little taller then the female, with black stripes on the car doors, which extended out of his back like wings, and the headlights becoming part of his chest. The SUV had transformed into a _massive_, 32- foot-tall giant with a large body mass, stocky legs, and a relatively small head. They all have the same glowing blue 'eyes' as the red and white robot, Ratchet.

These robots are actually alien organisms called Autobots, who arrived on Earth from a distant planet called Cybertron, along with their mortal enemies, the Decepticons. After Cybertron had become uninhabitable due to many millennia of warfare between the two factions, both Autobots and Decepticons eventually found their way to Earth, where they continue their fight to this day. Although the Autobots are severely lacking in numbers and technology, they have not given up, nor will they anytime soon.

After they finished transforming, the powerhouse of the team, Bulkhead, looked at Ratchet and said "Come on Ratch, Miko's just being Miko." Ratchet just muttered "Unfortunately" before turning back to the computer array. Jack, Raf and Miko walked up a special pathway to a platform that had a couch, a television, and a video game system, all acquired specifically for them. Jack proceeded to flop down on the couch before asking Ratchet "Hey Ratch, where's Optimus." Ratchet answered without looking away from the screen's.

"Helping General Bryce root out the last remaining M.E.C.H. agents in one of their more fortified hideouts. Agent Fowler called and said that he had reason to believe that that base is where they manufacture most of the parts they used to build their Nemesis Prime." Everyone's faces immediately darkened at the thought of the doppelganger of their team leader-Optimus Prime-created by M.E.C.H., a terrorist organization that sought world domination through technological means, which they used to make the government think that the Autobots had turned on them.

The female Autobot-Arcee-asked Ratchet "Isn't this the last of their bases?" Ratchet responded with "Correct Arcee. M.E.C.H.'s financial assets have all been frozen, almost all of their agents, including those enrolled in the military, have been arrested, their bases have been discovered and as much of their technology as the military could find has been confiscated…in short, M.E.C.H. is officially disbanded." That brightened everyone's mood. Bumblebee let out a few bleeps and whirs that Raf translated as "Bee's wondering if we can play a celebratory V-game match." Miko responded with her usual spunk.

"As long as it's something besides that racing game; I mean I like it, but it's getting pretty old." Before that conversation could continue, the radio came on over the computer array, and a stately, commanding, gentle voice came over the radio. "Ratchet." Ratchet immediately answered the call. "I'm here Optimus." The voice-Optimus Prime's voice-continued. "The M.E.C.H. agents have been arrested and all their weapons and technology has been confiscated. I am ready to be bridged back to base." At once, Ratchet answered "I'm sending a groundbridge now."

As soon as Ratchet entered Optimus's coordinates, he pulled down a lever that activated a swirling green tunnel of light inside a ring located near the computer array. A few seconds later, Optimus Prime stepped through. Optimus was easily the tallest of the Autobots in the room, almost 40-feet tall. His hips, legs, and head had blue armor while his arms, shoulders and chest had red armor. His face had a gentle, stoic look on it, matching the confident strides and noble stature of his body.

Once he had stepped through the portal and Ratchet had closed it, Optimus looked to the team and said "The M.E.C.H. base has been successfully neutralized, and General Bryce sends his apologies." Bulkhead spoke up. "I thought Bryce was the one keen on disbanding the team." Optimus responded with an understanding tone. "While he admits to retaining some reservations, Fowler's defense of our operation and our work in neutralizing the M.E.C.H. bases has earned back some of the trust we lost due to Nemesis Prime." This news brightened the mood even further. Jack looked at Optimus and asked "So is Silas dead?" Optimus answered with a more cautious tone.

"That is what General Bryce and most of the military assumes, and it does seem to be quite likely. However, since the body was not found, we must be on alert, in case Silas and the few M.E.C.H agents that avoided arrest should someday make their return." For a brief second, a look of deep concern crossed Miko's face, but no one noticed. With their questions answered, Optimus turned to Ratchet. "Ratchet, have there been any recent energon signals." Everyone knew why he asked this: the Autobot's supply of energon, the fuel and lifeblood of all Cybertronians and the power source for their groundbridge, was getting low again, and thus far, the Decepticons controlled practically every deposit of energon, big or small, known to exist on Earth. Ratchet responded with a slightly grave-sounding voice.

"None so far Optimus, but Wheeljack called in just before the kids arrived." Miko and Bulkhead instantly began paying extra attention. Wheeljack is the only other Autobot currently active on Earth, and a good friend of Bulkhead. Before they left Cybertron, they were part of an Autobot black-ops command unit called the Wreckers. Bulkhead asked Ratchet, with noticeable excitement in his voice, "What'd he say." Ratchet turned back to the screen and pressed a button. Instantly, a map of the Earth showed up on the main screen, with a glowing dot over the island of Honshu in Japan.

"Wheeljack said that he's found a relatively low-guarded energon mine in this location. According to his intel, the mine just recently discovered a much larger amount of untapped energon, and something else, though he didn't say what. According to Wheeljack, extra soldiers and miners are expected to arrive within a few days, and Knockout will be arriving to oversee the transport of whatever it is they may have discovered. This may be our best and only chance to raid the mine and replenish our stocks before they get too low, and to recover what the miners have discovered before Megatron has a chance to use it." Miko spoke up as soon as Ratchet had finished and took a pleading look to her face.

"Hey, that's not too far from Tokyo. Can I go with you guys, just this once, please, please? I can translate if anyone sees you. If you let me go I won't go through the groundbridge to see you fight Cons for as long as I can help." She looked at Ratchet at the next part. "And Ratchet, if you let me go with them I'll stop calling you doc for as long as I can help it." Ratchet looked at Optimus and spoke up. "Optimus, while I would very much like for Miko to stop running into danger and calling me doc, for a while at least, I must still protest against letting her go." Optimus considered both parts for a moment before looking at Miko.

"Miko, as long as you stay within the _Jackhammer_, I see no qualms about bringing you along; however, if you attempt to follow us, I will call Ratchet for a groundbridge. Am I clear?" Miko squealed and jumped in excitement. "Yes, yes. I promise, I'll spend the whole trip in the Jackhammer." Optimus nodded and turned to Ratchet. "Ratchet, activate the groundbridge at those coordinates, and tell Wheeljack that we will be there to assist him." Ratchet nodded and prepared to activate the groundbridge. Miko meanwhile was still ecstatic.

"Yes, yes. Finally, they said yes to me going on a mission." Ratchet spoke up in response to that. "For reasons yet unknown." Miko was too excited to respond, or care; she walked over to Bulkhead and began waiting by his foot. Bulkhead notice and looked down at her. "You ready for this Miko." She nodded vigorously and said "You bet. Persistence pays; granted it took a while, but they finally let me come on a mission that's **not** recon." Arcee spoke to her before Miko could continue her squeeling.

"Just remember Miko, Optimus was serious about what he said; step out of line once, and you get a bridge back to base." Miko looked up at Arcee and replied with great happiness. "Don't worry, I'm not going to leave the ship and risk getting bridged back. This may be the one time in which Optimus will let me go with him on an actual mission. Just make sure you and Bulk bring me back some good pictures."

Before they could say anything more, the groundbridge portal opened up, causing Miko and all the Autobots except for Ratchet to gather in front of the glowing portal. Ratchet spoke to them before they entered. "Wheeljack has been alerted to your imminent arrival and is waiting a few miles from the site of the mine." Optimus nodded before turning to the groundbridge and saying "Autobots…roll out." At that they transformed into their vehicle modes, Optimus's being a red and blue long-nose Peterbilt Truck, and drove through the portal, with Miko jumping into Bulkhead's open door before he closed it.

When they had driven through, Ratchet closed the groundbridge and went back to his work while muttering "They'll be calling for a groundbridge within 10 minutes if not less." Up on the couch, Jack looked at Raf and said "10 bucks says Miko manages to **not** run into battle." Raf looked at him and said "Deal" while shaking Jack's hand. Ratchet overheard the bet they made and just sighed and shook his helm before turning back to his work.

* * *

As that was going on, in the Japanese countryside about 20 miles from Tokyo, a small bunker sat in an equally small clearing, looking to all the world like it was abandoned and has remained abandoned since WWII. However, the inside of the bunker tells a far different story. There's actually a fairly large number of people moving about on the inside, for this old bunker is actually a science outpost use by a massive criminal empire known as the Kamakura Clan. This is one of several places where schematics and ideas for weapons, satellites, power sources, and otherwise are reviewed and possibly improved before they go on to the production phase.

Most of the people are communicating with each other in Japanese, but in a personal room on the 3rd sub-level, the two leaders of the Clan, a middle-aged Japanese man in a dark-grey business suit with a small number of wrinkles in his face, cold, calculating amber eyes and black, slicked-back and a slightly younger woman in a feminine version of his suit with intense brown eyes, no wrinkles, and straight, shoulder-length black hair, were conversing with the head scientist of M.E.C.H. over their computer in lightly-accented English.

"This is most unfortunate Verne. I had hoped Silas's machine would prove more successful, and I did not expect the organization we helped found to end so quickly." The M.E.C.H. scientist-Verne-replied with "What happened was unfortunate, but the doppelganger we created distracted both the Autobots and the military long enough for us to hack into their systems and regain the plans for Silas's old experiments. In addition, we have also managed to obtain the prototypes of most of those projects and move them to our Idaho facility. The plans, prototypes, and our schematics for the doppelganger will be transferred to the Clan by the end of the week Mr. Nakadai, and by the time the military and the Autobots discover what happened, any evidence we might have left behind will be next to worthless."

The man, Mr. Nakadai, nodded and smiled slightly. "Good. As promised, you will receive a substantial fee for your contribution to the clan, enough for you and the remaining M.E.C.H. agents to re-supply, recruit, and regain your strength. One thing though; it is my understanding that Silas is just barely alive, stuck in a vegetative state. What exactly do you plan to do with him?" Verne answered with careful confidence. "I thought you might ask that."

He began typing in some commands before sending them to their computer. "The details and finer processes are not yet completed, and some of the required parts are unavailable as of yet, but the basic idea is to transfer Silas's body, and thus his conscious, into the body of the Decepticon known as Breakdown, which we managed to find and recover on a scouting mission in British Colombia." The woman standing behind Mr. Nakadai, who had been silent up to that point, spoke up. "Breakdown, isn't he the transformer you dissected in Kamchatka?" Verne nodded and continued typing. "Correct Mrs. Nakadai. I'm sending the plans for his transfer to you now."

At that moment, a file appeared on the computer. Mr. and Mrs. Nakadai looked at it briefly before they're eyes widened. Mr. Nakadai broke the silence with "This project is most ambitious. You plan to give Silas the body and powers of a transformer?" On his end of the line, Verne nodded and began explaining. "It will be difficult, but I'm confident that Silas can be saved." Mr. Nakadai looked thoughtful for a moment before he looked at Verne.

"In that case, send us a list of the required parts and we will supply you with them. Silas provided us with plans and ideas for weaponry more advanced then the world has ever seen until now. It would be impolite not to help save him after his accident." Verne nodded and replied "Thank you sir. Verne out." With that, Verne turned off the communicator. Mr. Nakadai sat back in his chair and folded his hands in thought. His wife spoke up.

"My husband, is it really wise to allow Silas to live after his creation proved less successful then intended." Mr. Nakadai looked at her and answered her question in a neutral voice. "While their have been some complications regarding M.E.C.H., Silas has proven most useful to us overall my wife. It would be dishonorable to not help him in his dire straits." She nodded before looking at the file Verne had sent them.

"I am still unsure about these 'Cybertronians' that have been showing up. What if the Decepticon faction reveals itself to humanity and attempts to conquer or destroy us." Her husband responded with the same careful confidence that Verne had shown just a few minutes ago. "We will go underground, halt most of our operations, wait for the brunt of their attack to pass, and then recoup whatever we might have lost before we move to unite the survivors of humanity. Also, we will reach out to any transformer whom we believe might defect; see if they will join us. Once we have amassed enough strength, we will seek out the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron I believe, and see if we can forge an alliance, or at least get on his good side. If we cannot, then we will launch a guerilla war against them, hopefully long enough and hard enough to drive them off our planet at least."

Just then, they received an alert from their sensors officer. Turning on the link, the screen showed the image of a man in his early 30s. "Report." The officer reported, in heavily accented and slightly broken English "Clan lord, we have received a most unusual alert near the outer edges of our sensors perimeter. It is consistent with the portals used by the transformers." Both their eyes widened at what the officer had said before Mr. Nakadai turned to the officer. "Do we have a visual?" The officer nodded and showed them a video of a swirling, glowing green portal in a clearing not to far from the base.

A second later, four vehicles drove out of the portal before they changed into massive robotic beings…the Autobots he realized. Near the foot of the large, green Autobot was what appeared to be a person; this got Mr. Nakadai's interest. "Freeze that image, and magnify that spot there." The officer did so, and who that person was surprised and pleased them greatly. The image showed a 15-year-old girl; her hair had its usual braid, but she had added a pair of pigtails to it and put some pink streaks in her hair; her clothes were different as well, but their was no mistaking this girl, for it was their errant daughter…Miko Nakadai.

Mr. Nakadai laughed out loud before smiling evilly. "If it isn't our little girl standing among the big robots." Mrs. Nakadai had a similar smile on her face and said "It would appear that she has befriended these metal giants, and thus has likely gained a fair amount of valuable intel on their tactics, technology, capabilities, weaknesses, their base of operations, etc. She may prove useful to the Clan yet." Mr. Nakadai raised his hand to pause her speaking.

"Let us not jump to far my wife; there is still the matter of our son Mako…and our granddaughter." He looked back to the officer. "Send a team to the site of the portal, and make sure you tell them that stealth is an **absolute priority**. We cannot afford to assume that Miko's skills have dulled over time. Having a family to protect may have actually caused her to sharpen them." The officer nodded and replied "Yes Clan Lord Hiroshi. I will send our most experienced team and warn them that stealth is of the utmost importance." Hiroshi Nakadai nodded and replied "Good, and order them that she needs to be captured alive…but not very alive if required." The officer replied "Yes Clan Lord Hiroshi." and then cut the connection.

Once the connection was off, Mrs. Nakadai turned to her husband. "My husband, what exactly will we do if we successfully capture Miko, Mako, and Miko's daughter?" Her husband responded with a sure confidence lacing his voice.

"Miko will get one chance to rejoin the fold of the Kamakura clan due to her knowledge of the Cybertronians. Mako might also get another chance; knowing those two, Miko's likely told Mako all about the Autobots. As for her daughter, she will be taken from Miko, but if Miko rejoins then I will consider allowing her to visit her daughter every once in a while. Once her daughter is placed under our care, we will train her like we trained Miko. However, we will need to proceed more slowly with her, with less severe punishments for any transgressions; that way, we will avoid having her run off and disobey us like Miko and Mako did."

Mrs. Nakadai nodded and asked "And if they still refuse?" Her husband replied "If they refuse my offer, which is exceptionally generous for me, then we will still take Miko's daughter, but instead of letting Miko and Mako live…we will kill them both."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the forest just a mile from the Clan science facility, the Autobots were walking towards Wheeljack's ship, the _Jackhammer_, to prepare for their raid on the energon mine…and Miko was chatting the whole way. "Have you been to Japan before? Have you been to Tokyo? Have you driven through my neighborhood? Did any of you see me as you passed by? Though is guess you would have told me the last two already, but what about the first two."

Bulkhead laughed before telling her "Easy Miko, don't get them too annoyed or they might bridge you back." Miko proceeded to pretend to zip her mouth shut. A couple minutes later, they arrived in a large clearing where the _Jackhammer_, a fairly large ship, mostly white ship with red and green highlights and two sets of five spikes, one near each of the engine pods, was waiting for them. Waiting just outside the open door of the ship is a heavily-scarred Autobot with a color scheme similar to his ship, mostly white with red and green highlights on his chest and lower legs, and a red Autobot symbol in the middle of his chest, carrying a single grenade on his hip and duel Cybertonium swords on his back. Wheeljack smiled as he saw them and walked over to them.

"I was wondering when you were going to get here." Bulkhead smiled back and said "And miss hanging out with you Jackie." Wheeljack looked down and took notice of Miko. "Hey Miko; so the Hatchet finally let you com along on a mission." Miko responded with "Only because I promise them not to leave the _Jackhammer_." Wheeljack responded with "Fair enough." before looking at Optimus, who said "Wheeljack, thank you for alerting us to this mine." Wheeljack looked at Optimus and gave a small smile.

"Not a problem sir. Now if you'll just follow me." With that he walked up the ramp into his ship, with the others following him. "Since I got here I've been scouting for energon deposits and mapping Con movements and energon mines across the planet; blowing up a few when I can." He then pressed a button which activated a digital map of the planet, showing Decepticon movements and energon mines across the planet.

"I've also been scanning Con communication frequencies for anything interesting. Picked up some chatter a few days ago that the Con's head medic, Knockout, is personally to pick up something the miners found." Arcee spoke up and asked "What'd they find, an Iacon Relic." Wheeljack looked at them and replied "Nope, but something just as good: a meteorite full of red energon."

At that revelation, the optics of every Bot present widened while Bumblebee let out a few beeps of surprise. Miko however was confused and looked up at Optimus."What's red energon?" Optimus answered with careful consideration in his voice.

"It is a very rare and highly volatile form of regular energon. When successfully refined into fuel, it grants the power of hyper-speed…and when used in explosives, it makes them 5 times as powerful." Wheeljack's smile got a bit bigger at this. "The explosives part I'm looking forward to. I managed to get a basic scan of the mine with the _Jackhammer_, but the red energon's buried deep, couldn't get a very good scan of the bottom of the mine. The mine itself is located about 4 Earth miles to the south of here. Not a lot of guards, but most of have been moved to where the red energon's located. I'd wager about a dozen are guarding the energon while the rest are guarding the miners not working on the red energon." Optimus spoke to everyone when Wheeljack had finished.

"We must exercise when retrieving the red energon. Bulkhead, Wheeljack, you will assist me in drawing the guards away from the red energon. Arcee, Bumblebee, you will sneak down into the lower levels and eliminate any guards there without hitting the red energon." Optimus then looked down at Miko.

"Miko, as per our agreement, you will remain in the _Jackhammer_ for the duration of the raid." Miko looked up at him and replied with an honest look on her face.

"I get it Optimus, no leaving the ship. But can you at least let me come into the mine when you're done so that I can take pictures of the damage you guys did?" Optimus looked at her for a second and said "We will see what happens." He then looked to the rest of the group. "Autobots, prepare to attack."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the edge of the base's sensors, the stealth team sent by command was tracing the path of the transformers while remaining as hidden as possible…which really wasn't all that hard due to the size and depth of their footprints. Still, they could not afford to get complacent. The team leader had seen what Miko could potentially do prior her going rouge…he was present on her first mission when she was 11. Hopefully she's dropped her guard at least a little because of both her accustomization to the Autobots and the length of time since a team was sent after her. In case that wasn't true, they had brought the most accurate and damaging weaponry they could before they were sent out; all the better to catch her alive while making sure she didn't fight back.

Within minutes, they had found the ship that the independent Autobot-Wheeljack if their intel was correct-used to travel around the world. A couple minutes later, five Autobots exited the ramp that led to the ship. The leader, Optimus Prime, was easy to identify, as were the ones called Bulkhead and Wheeljack; the names of the other two, the black-and-yellow scout and the blue, female 2nd in command, were not yet known due to the lack of data. They all paid attention to Optimus as he spoke.

"Remember, we must avoid using our blasters whenever possible. The red energon is highly unstable; if a single shot hits even a small chunk of red energon, the entire mine could be destroyed, taking all of us with it." Wheeljack commented "We blast as many guards as we can before heading to where the Red Energon is kept, we hide as long as we can once we get down there, and then take out the Cons at close range; got it."

Optimus nodded and motioned to the yellow scout and the blue female. "Arcee, Bumblebee, the two of you will travel to the mine in vehicle mode and disengage before sneaking into the mine." The female, Arcee, replied "Got it Optimus." while the scout, Bumblebee, let out a couple of beeps before they changed into their respective vehicle modes, a motorcycle and a muscle car and drove off to the south. Optimus then turned to the other two.

"The three of us will charge the Decepticons in the upper levels of the mine and draw as many as we can away from the red energon before we proceed to the third sub-level to meet up with Arcee and Bumblebee. Once their, we will spread our and surround any remaining guards and miners on the fourth sub-level before we secure the red energon." Bulkhead and Wheeljack nodded before the three remaining Autobots changed into their vehicle modes, Wheeljack turning into a mostly white Ferrari Testarossa/ Ford GT mix with some red and a few green highlights, and drove in the same direction that Arcee and Bumblebee went.

The team leader allowed himself a small smirk; they had yet to find Miko and they had already gained valuable intel on the Autobots, as well as an opportunity to gain more. Quickly, he hailed Clan lord Hiroshi over his radio in broken, heavily accented English.

"Clan Lord Hiroshi, I have uncovered vital intelligence about the Autobots." Hiroshi replied "What kind of intel?" The squad leader replied "It would appear that the Autobots intend to assault the Decepticon mine several miles to the south in order to gain the energon from that mine, and to gain something called red energon. I do not know what is so important about the red energon, but it can easily be assumed that it is potentially rarer and more dangerous then regular energon. Also, we have learned that the name of Optimus's scout is Bumblebee, and the name of his 2nd in command is Arcee." Hiroshi responded a few seconds later.

"Well done commander. We are already tracking the Prime's movements and those of his comrades, and a small scout team is being prepared to be sent to observe any conflict between the two sides; hopefully, they can gain a sample of this 'red energon'. Continue your tracking of Miko, and report back once you have captured her, or she has escaped from you and your team." The squad leader responded with "Yes clan lord." before turning off the radio and motioning for his team to begin moving towards the ship, which still had the boarding ramp down.

Slowly, he and his team began sneaking towards the ramp. With any luck, they could catch Miko by surprise and capture her without any problems…if not, then they were in **big** trouble.

* * *

Chapter 1 is officially complete. Just so you know, I planned on having Miko's brother Mako and her daughter Asami appear near the end, but this chapter was becoming longer then I meant it to, so I had to split it in half. Originally, the second part was twice as long as this first part, but I managed to shorten it so that the two chapters were more-or-less even in length; thus, you now have part 1 to view. The original ending if this chapter was Miko's evil-as-the-pit father promising to kill Miko and Mako if they don't comply, but I changed it to the squad of goons entering the Jackhammer because that was the 2nd best stopping place. I know your all wondering "Miko has a daughter?!" or "Her parents are criminals?!" I assure you that all will be revealed in the next chapter. For now, I'll give you a couple hints; in the next chapter, Miko faces men she hoped she'd never see again, while the Autobots fight to gain control over the mine and the treasure that's within it. Afterwards, Wheeljack is invited to the base for a little while, but becomes suspicious of Miko and follows her home, where he discovers more questions then answers. Until then, this is the Prime Writer, signing off.


	2. Miko's Secrets, part 2

Greetings to the fine people that visit this website, and especially to those that read my stories. As stated at the end of the last chapter, this was supposed to be one chapter, but it wound up getting too long, so I split in two. Last chapter, we found out that Miko's parents are lords of a criminal organization known as the Kamakura Clan that helped found M.E.C.H., and that she and her brother Mako escaped from them a while back…and somehow, Miko has a daughter. Before any of you start going on about "She's too young to have a daughter!" let me explain a couple things: 1, she did not plan to "do it" or become a parent at such a young age, and 2, women are biologically capable of bearing children starting at age 13. In this chapter, we see how the Autobot's raid goes and what the prize they seek is. Meanwhile, Miko fights off a squad of well-trained goons while waiting in the Jackhammer. Later, we see Miko in her real home, and we meet her older brother Mako and her 14-month-old daughter Asami; a little tidbit, this Mako's personality is based on the one from the show Legend of Korra, but this Mako's physical appearance is mostly of my creation...though I might give him more of LOK Mako's looks then I mean too. Now that explanations are out of the way, let us go on with the story.

Chapter 2: Miko's Secrets, Part 2

Within the Decepticon mine, all was quite save for the saws and drills of the miners and the clunking of energon pieces as they hit the ground. There were only four guards, with the same purple armor, black masks, and red optics as the miners, in the top level of the mine, which was the most productive, and two each on the second and third sub-levels. With the discovery of the red energon meteor and a new vein of untapped energon in the lowest level, a dozen of the 20 guards in the mine had moved to the level where the red energon was found in case the Autobots were brave enough, desperate enough, or stupid enough to attack the mine for the energon. The Decepticon head medic Knockout was supposed to be arriving tommorrow with extra guards and equipment to help move the red energon onto the Nemesis tommorrow. They just needed to keep the mine secure until that happened.

Suddenly, the sound of roaring engines became apparent, causing the miners and guards to stop what they were doing and turn in the direction of the noise. A few seconds later, three vehicles appeared in the mine's entrance, which quickly transformed into Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Optimus Prime. The lead guard shouted "Autobots; call for the other guards." One guard did so while the other three opened fire.

The three Autobots took refuge behind some boulders and fired back. The miners left and two guards were felled in a minute, but the other two had taken refuge behind a boulder; less then a minute later, an additional 10 guards had arrived to back up their comrades. Wheeljack called over to Optimus and asked "Hey Prime, you sure I can't use my grenade; it'd save us a lot of trouble." Optimus called back and replied "Refrain from the use of explosives unless absolutely necessary."

They had managed to take out three guards, but the rest managed to duck down whenever a blast came their way. Optimus knew that they had to eliminate these guards quickly before they were alerted to Bee and Arcee on the lower levels.

* * *

While Optimus and the Wreckers had their hands full, Arcee and Bumblebee managed to sneak past them and make it to the second sub-level. Bumblebee let out a few concerned beeps and whirs at Arcee, who replied "I know your worried Bee, but Optimus and Bulkhead can handle themselves…and Wheeljack as long as he doesn't throw any grenades." Bee nodded and continued following Arcee down the mine.

They saw only some abandoned mining equipment and pieces of raw energon on the second and third sub-levels; Arcee figure that the mining crew had evacuated to where the red energon was. Her suspicions proved correct as the reached sub-level four, finding at least three-dozen miners and another half-dozen guards surrounding a glowing red meteor: the red energon. So far she and Bee had gone unnoticed, but that may not last very long. Bee made his way over to some boulders and hid behind them while Arcee found cover on the other side of the cave; both began steadily moving their way towards the red energon.

Arcee noticed that some of the miners had picked up portable drills and saws, likely to use as weapons if she and Bee managed to take out the guards. She managed to get close enough to hear what a few of the Con miners were saying.

"Why are we here again?" One of the guards responded with "If the Autobots manage to get down here, they're not likely to use their blasters for fear of causing an explosion. That's why the rest of us guards are in front of the red energon. If the Autobots manage to beat us, then you miners will step in and outnumber them 7 to 1."

By then, Arcee and Bumblebee had managed to get behind the red energon. A few of the miners looked worried at the prospect of dealing with Autobots. "I don't know about this; I mean, sure we outnumber them and I hate the Autobots, but the Bots are good fighters, no arguing that. Plus the six of them have been holding their own for several Earth years."

By then, Arcee and Bumblebee had managed to get about 20 meters behind the miners and guards without noticing them. Changing into vehicle mode, the two bots charged at the surprised guards and miners before jumping and transforming in mid-air over one guard each, causing them to come crashing down and crush the unlucky guards. Reacting quickly, Arcee popped out her arm-blades and sliced into the two guards nearest to her, while Bumblebee quickly knocked out the guards nearest to him with a few punches to each.

By then, most of the miners had regained their wits and began charging their drills and saws before charging at Arcee and Bumblebee. Bee and Arcee prepared themselves as a large group of angry miners came rushing at them.

* * *

Up on the first sub-level, Optimus, Bulkhead and Wheeljack were still in a tough spot. They had managed to blast another two guards into oblivion, but they were still outnumbered and outgunned. Wheeljack caught sight of the abandoned drill and smiled as yet another crazy idea popped into his head. "Hey Bulk, cover me will ya; I have a plan to scrap them without blowing them." Bulkhead just smiled and said "You got it Jackie."

With that, Bulkhead leaned out a bit and almost managed a lucky shot on a guard, but he ducked at the last minute and ordered the surviving drones to open fire on him. Wheeljack ran out while they were focusing on Bulkhead and managed to make it to the drill. Climbing on without them noticing, he muttered "Okay lets see; how do I start a drill and make it keep going without a driver."

After a couple minutes of going over the various dials and switches, Wheeljack found a combination that would send the drill rolling towards the guards while the drill was active, which would scatter them and make them easy targets; it might even squash a guard or two. After entering in the required combination, Wheeljack turned the drill in the direction of the miners and jumped off, letting the drill do its thing.

Optimus was blasting away at the cluster of guards when he saw the drill moving on an automated course towards the Cons. Most of the guards saw the drill in time and managed to get out of the way, but one unlucky guard was bowled over and crushed by the drill. Now without a hiding place, the remaining six guards were easy pickings for Optimus and Bulkhead.

When all the guards were scrap, the three of them met back up near the entrance to the second sub-level. Optimus turned to Wheeljack and said "Wheeljack, while your improvisational skills are sound, I would request that you alert all of us before you put those plans into action." Wheeljack just said "I'll see what I can do, but I'm not sure I can keep a promise like that." Bulkhead just smiled and said "That's my Jackie." With that, they proceeded to the second sub-level.

Unbeknownst to them, a trio of Kamakura Clan scouts, clad in ninja-style sneak suits, had watched the whole fight, paying extra attention to Wheeljack. The head scout called over to one of his partners and said in Japanese "_The Autobot called Wheeljack seems to be skilled at improvisation, but also prone to cockiness and recklessness_." The scout he called nodded and said "_Agreed; he also seems to be a good friend of Bulkhead_." The lead scout nodded and said "_We must follow them; they are likely heading towards the red energon._"

With that, the three of them were on their way. Their mission was provided directly by Clan Lady Yamamoto, the wife of Clan Lord Hiroshi: to follow and observe the Autobots without being seen, and to gain a sample of the red energon if possible. He knew a second team was being sent to capture Miko, but he had seen the footage of Miko in the field and personally, he doubted that they would succeed.

* * *

Miko was standing in the chair where Wheeljack usually sat when he was flying the _Jackhammer_. She was still giddily happy that she was allowed to come on an actual mission, albeit only if she stayed in the ship. To be honest, she was starting to regret coming here; this area was a lot closer to one of the Clan's bases then she had thought, possibly close enough that they could find her. If that were to happen, she would have to either fight off any agents they sent covertly without leaving behind anything suspicious, or run to the Autobots, have them fight off the attackers, and pray that they didn't ask too many questions after the Clan agents were sent packing.

She had contingency answers for some of the questions they might ask, but for others, she wasn't so sure if she could give satisfactory answers. Right now, she was thinking of a reason to **not** go to the mine after the fight was over like she originally wanted that she was decently certain that the Autobots, especially Optimus, would buy. All of her friends, inluding the Autobots, thought of her as a hyperactively reckless girl with a passion for punk and loud pop-culture. She did not want to know what they would think of her if her friends discovered the truth.

She was still thinking of ideas when she thought she heard something down the hall. Taking no chances, she readied the variety of weapons she had hid on her person, slowly climbed down the chair, and moved silently in the direction of the noise. Making almost no sound, she snuck to where the sound had come from and started hearing more sounds. They sounded like footsteps…_human_ footsteps.

Peering from behind a corner, her blood turned to ice as she saw what she feared she would see: an 8-person squad of Clan stealth operatives in standard black-colored, Kevlar-reinforced, ninja-style sneak suits, armed with extendable katanas, electric kali sticks, electro-bolos, dart guns in pistol and rifle configuration, and an electro-chain on the leader's waist; they were sent to capture her alive, likely acting on direct orders from her parents.

Preparing herself both physically and mentally, she grabbed a pair of extendable katanas, her favorite weapons, and began climbing up the small indents in the walls of the ship; they weren't much, but Miko had been trained to use smaller hand-and-footholds then these. She had climbed about 20 feet when she heard them pass under her. he waited, not even breathing, keeping her eyes trained on them until they passed by her.

Once they did, she slowly, she climbed back down, knowing that even the slightest noise could alert them. She stealthily snuck in the direction they were heading and found them in the main room, where the team leader was speaking to them in Japanese.

"_Alright, here's the plan: we'll split up in four teams of two and spread out over the ship. Remember to be very careful if you believe Miko is in the area. I have seen Miko in action before, and she is not to be taken lightly. If you see her, do not engage, but regroup with the others and tell them of where you found her. She can be a handful if we do not engage her properly_."

Miko's fears were true: they had come to capture her. Well, she would make sure that they would have one hell of a time doing so. Slowly, she approached where the leader was dividing them into teams and chose to go with the pair that had a rookie in it. Miko had already formulated a plan: she would follow those two and take them out, making noise as she did so to attract the attention of the rest of the squad. She followed those two down a corridor while preparing her homemade electro-bolo, one of a half-dozen she made from parts scavenged and bought in Jasper, Nevada.

When the rookie's partner was in position, Miko spun the bolo a few times before throwing it. After it fully wrapped itself around the person's arms, the bolo delivered an electric charge sufficient to keep that person knocked out for at least an hour. The rookie instantly turned in the direction the bolo had come from, but Miko had already run to the other side of the corridor. She noticed that the rookie looked much more nervous then previously. Deciding to play around with him a bit more, Miko snuck up until she was right behind him and tapped his shoulder.

The rookie tensed and turned in Miko's direction, but she had darted to his other side and had taken refuge in the shadows. A few seconds later, Miko crouched down, darted out from the shadows, and tapped the rookie on the shoulder again before ducking. When he turned, Miko popped back up, giving the rookie a head-but doing so, before letting lose a _sweet _high-kick that smashed into the rookies jaw, breaking it and knocking out a good half-dozen teeth, and also causing him to fall to the floor noisily.

Miko darted back to the shadows she was hiding in seconds before the rest of the squad came charging in. The leader exclaimed in Japanese "_What happened_?" One of the other men responded, again in Japanese, "_Miko did this sir; this bolo looks like it was made from store-bought parts, and the imprint on Sojo's foot matches that of the boots she's wearing_." The squad leader ordered his men "_Spread out, search for wherever Miko may be hiding, but signal the others before engaging_."

Bearing their tranquilizer rifles, they spread out and began searching for Miko. Miko however was well-prepared. Waiting until one soldier was near her hiding place, she grabbed him as soon as his back was turned and pulled him into the shadow, silencing him by pinching a nerve cluster on his neck before he could scream. One of the soldiers nearby noticed his sudden disappearance and signaled the others. At once, they approached the shadow where Miko was hiding. One bold soldier approached her hiding place, and was pulled in the second his foot touched the shadow. This time however, Miko didn't silence him, letting him scream as he was pulled in. The others quickly brought their weapons to bear, but Miko didn't come out just yet. The remaining soldiers heard the sounds of their comrade being beaten up, but they dare didn't go in to the shadow.

A few seconds after the sounds stopped, the unconscious, heavily bruised body of their comrade was tossed out. While they stared at him, Miko darted out, brought out her extendable katanas, and sliced through the dart-rifles of all four soldiers, all in the span of 10 seconds. While they were stunned, Miko darted towards the nearest soldier and delivered a push-kick-back-kick combo that knocked him flat on his back.

By then, the remaining three had recovered and prepared for combat; the leader readied his electro-chain while the other two brought out a single extendable katana each. Miko just extended her second and said, in Japanese "_Thrill me_" before charging at them. One swung his katana at her in a downward swing, but she blocked and used his momentum to push him away, causing him to lose his balance. The other came rushing at her readying a large swipe with his katana, but Miko saw this attempt as too easy. Catching the blade with both of her own, she blocked it long enough for her to kick her opponent's legs out from under him, knocking him out with a quick stomp to the gut, though not strong enough to seriously damage any internal organs.

The soldier from earlier came at her with his blade ready for an upward slice, but she caught it and redirected it so that the sword was sent flying away. Before he could react, the soldier was rendered unconscious as Miko brought his head down and _smashed _it against her knee, breaking his nose and causing him to cry out in pain, before she ran to his other side and hit the base of his skull with a precision finger-stab _just_ hard enough to keep him out for a while.

With those two taken care of, Miko turned to the leader, who had brought out his electro-chain and activated it, causing it to crackle with electricity. They spoke to each other in Japanese. "_Your father wants a word with you and your brother_." Miko glared back and replied "_Tell him we couldn't find the time_."

With that, he snapped his chain at her and just barely missed. He swung the chain several more times, not hitting her but keeping her at a distance and on the defensive. Finally, one of his strikes grazed her left shoulder, causing her to flinch and hiss in pain. The leader smirked and spun his chain a couple times before swinging it at her.

Quickly, Miko used one of her katanas, both of which had rubber on the handles for both a better grip and as protection from electrical attacks, and used the blade to catch the chain. A sharp tug tore it from the leader's grasp, and she tossed both weapons away. Miko ran straight at him, surprising the leader. Before he could react, the leader was hit with a foot-stomp, a knee to the groin, a jab to the kidneys, and finally a palm-strike to the solar plexus, knocking the breath out of the squad leader and sending him flying.

He landed hard on the floor, but did a quick handspring, getting back up and coming at Miko with a fast left-jab which he followed with a right hook and a side-kick; Miko dodged the two punches and caught the leader's leg, tossing him into an ankle-bar, but he pushed off with his free leg, kicking Miko away. Fortunately, she recovered quickly, in time to dart to the side as the assassin drew his dart-revolver and opened fire; dodging the tranquilizer darts with ease, Miko took aim and tossed a throwing knife she had on her, knocking the weapon out of his hand.

Softly cursing, the squad leader looked away briefly to draw a Kama Sickle…but the second he looked up, he was met with the blade of an extendable katana resting on his jugular; a flick of Miko's wrist, and the jugular would be cut, which would cause him to bleed out in about a minute. He chose to slowly stand up, drop the sickle, and put his hands in the air, staring down Miko's iron-hard glare. They spoke to each other again, again in Japanese.

"_It appears that you have me at your mercy. So tell me, are you going to end all of us, or embrace your weakness and let us go free_." Miko responded in an icy voice "_Valuing the lives of others, even those of the enemy, is not weakness. I'm not the cold-blooded killer my parents tried to train me to be. When you meet my parents, give them a message: I will never go back to them…**ever**_."

He nodded in reluctant agreement; with that, Miko slowly lowered the straight-edged blade from the squad leader's throat; he made no moves to go to his other weapons. She said to him "_Some of your teammates will wake up in a minute; once they're up, they'll help you carry the rest of your squad out of here_."

The squad leader sneered and said "_And why should we leave; we had strict orders to capture you, and I'm sure you know better then most that your father can have a short temper_." She replied "_If the Autobots find you guys here, their going to ask questions that I'll answer…and they will not be happy when they learn why you were sent here_." He grudgingly nodded and asked another question.

"_Just to clarify, you do have a daughter, do you not?_" She replied with a hard glare. "_Asami Nakadai, 14-months-old, born to a middle lieutenant of the Clan and conceived through statutory rape; her biological father promised to keep a secret if I gave him some 'pleasurable company'. Neither of us thought it through very well_." The squad leader's eyes widened in stunned surprise. "_Who exactly is this lieutenant?_" Miko answered with notable distaste. "_I didn't catch his name, but he's stationed somewhere near Kobe._"

By then, four of the squad members had gotten up, moaning in pain and clutching their injuries. Miko noticed this and turned back to him. "_Some of your squad is awake; I suggest you go before the Autobots get here._" Again, the squad leader gave a grudging nod and helped the rookie, now sporting a broken jaw, get to his feet while the others began picking themselves up and started carrying those who were still unconscious.

Within a few minutes they had left the ship, sending contemptuous glares at Miko as they left, and Miko had erased all visible evidence that they were there before sitting back down in Wheeljack's chair. She went back to think about what to say if any questions were asked, briefly pondering how the Bots were doing; she waved that thought off, believing that the situation over in the mine was under control.

* * *

Down in the mine, Arcee and Bumblebee were holding there own, but they were running out of steam fast. Of the three-dozen Decepticon miners that had gathered around the red energon, two-thirds of them had obtained drills and saws for use as weapons. The miners without weapons were easily dispatched, but the others were a tad harder to beat because of their weapons.

Currently, 20 of the original 36 were now scrap metal, but the other 16 were still going strong, and they had high confidence because Bee and Arcee were severely outnumbered. Arcee kicked another two saw-wielding miners away while Bumblebee grabbed one and tossed him into two others, but all the fighting was tiring them out; unless help arrived soon, the two of them might not make it out alive.

Bee sent a few beeps towards Arcee, who responded with "Just keep fighting Bee; Optimus and the others should be getting here soon, we just need to hold these guys off until then." Several miners charged at them, hoping to use their superior numbers to overwhelm the two Autobots. Arcee and Bee were forced to use martial arts and close-range weapons because using their blasters means that they might hit the red energon, blowing up the whole mine and killing everyone in it.

Arcee sliced through the neck of one before back-flipping away from another and spin-kicking one miner into another, while Bee grabbed a miner and tossed him into three more. Arcee had just killed another miner when one of them body-slammed her from the side, knocking her down and sending her sliding across the ground towards Bumblebee. He stopped and stooped down to pick her up, giving the rest of the miners a chance to surround the two of them, which they did.

When they looked up and noticed their predicament, Bee let out a sad whir while Arcee muttered "Scrap." Just as the remaining miners were powering up their drills and saws, they heard the sounds of engines coming their way, causing all 16 heads to see a truck, and SUV, and a sports car coming at them. Arcee yelled out "They made it!" while Bumblebee beeped happily.

The miners were left dumbstruck until Optimus, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack transformed and drew out their close-range weapons. In a desperate charge, the remaining miners readied their weapons and ran at the three, only to be cut down by blades and maces in under a minute. When Optimus and the Wreckers were done, Optimus approached the two and asked "Are you all right?"

Bumblebee let out a few beeps while Arcee replied "We're a little banged up, but fine." Optimus nodded and activated his comm. link. "Ratchet, do you read." Ratchet replied "Loud and clear Optimus. What happened?" Optimus replied with "The Decepticons have been defeated and the mine has been secured with minimal injuries." Ratchet let out a relieved sigh through the link. "Oh, thank the Allspark."

Optimus continued with "We require a groundbridge to move the red energon before more Decepticons arrive; also, Bumblebee and Arcee have injuries that need attending to." Ratchet replied in his medic-voice. "I've locked onto your coordinates; sending a groundbridge."

A second later the familiar swirling portal appeared a few feet to the right. "Arcee, Bumblebee, head to base and have Ratchet evaluate your injuries." Arcee and Bee both nodded and walked through the groundbridge. Optimus then turned to Bulkhead and Wheeljack. "Bulkhead, Wheeljack, we will need to move the red energon to base as soon as possible; once that is accomplished, we will move as many crates of refined energon as we can before Knockout arrives with the reinforcements."

The two of them nodded before they got to work moving the red energon meteor. While doing so, Wheeljack wondered out loud "I wonder how Miko's doing." Bulkhead responded with "Don't worry Jackie; Miko's probably just been hanging out in the _Jackhammer_ the whole time."

* * *

Over in the _Jackhammer_, Miko was still sitting in the big chair Wheeljack sat in. She had come up with excuses that she believed Optimus would believe, but there were still a few questions that she hoped they wouldn't ask.

Two of her biggest secrets were that her parents were leaders of a powerful criminal organization called the Kamakura, and that she had a 14-month-old daughter. She didn't come to America as an exchange student; instead she came seeking refuge with her brother and young daughter. She couldn't go to the government because the Clan would call their contacts within that government and have them kill her and Mako; there was also the fear that they would take away Asami. Now the Clan knows of her association with the Autobots, and will likely try even harder to track her down; she might even have to leave Jasper, the first place where she had gained real friends.

She was still ruminating over what might happen when she heard her phone going off. Miko answered it and heard a familiar voice coming through. "Miko, are still in the _Jackhammer_?" Miko let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding when she heard Optimus's calming voice. "Yeah, I'm still here." Optimus responded with "Wheeljack will arrive soon to bring you back to base; Bulkhead has invited him to stay for a few days."

Miko felt glad, both that Optimus had yet to ask any questions and that she would get to hang with Wheeljack. "Awesome. So how'd the mission go?" Optimus answered "We have obtained the red energon and a large supply of regular energon." Just then, Miko heard the sound of an opening groundbridge outside the Jackhammer. "Wheeljack's here. I gotta go Optimus, bye." With that, she hung up and ran out towards the opened groundbridge.

She had just got off the ramp when Wheeljack walked through. He kneeled down to Miko's level and said "Good to see you again kid. Anything happen while I was gone?" For a brief second, Wheeljack thought he saw some hesitation in her eyes, but it passed faster then it had appeared. "No, nothing happened really." Her eyes didn't make contact with his for a couple seconds, but before he could ask anything, she began bombarding him with questions.

"So how'd it go? Did beat all the guards? How bad did you beat them up? Did you cause any explosions?" Wheeljack just laughed and said "To answer your questions: pretty good, all the guards were scrapped, we beat them up pretty good, and no explosions were made. But I did activate a Con drill and used it to crush a guard. The rest turned into easy pickings."

Miko smiled and commented "We humans have a saying for that: like hitting ducks in a shooting gallery." Wheeljack replied "I'll have to remember that; now lets not keep the Hatchet waiting." With that, he picked her up and walked through the open groundbridge.

As soon as they stepped out, Ratchet closed the groundbridge and turned back to Arcee and Bumblebee. Miko noticed their injuries and asked "What happened to you guys." Arcee looked at her and winced slightly. "Long story short-a bunch of angry miners." Just then, Bulkhead came walking in with a large metal ball.

"Hey Jackie, up for a little lobbing?" Wheeljack set Miko down on the platform and walked over to Bulkhead. "You know it Bulk." Ratchet just sighed a bit and muttered "Why me?" before looking at Optimus. "I assume there were no altercations with Miko, considering you never called for a groundbridge." Optimus responded with "Miko honored her end of the bargain and stayed within the confines of the Jackhammer. She did not leave the ship, as far as we know."

Jack looked to Raf with his palm extended and said "Pay up." Raf groaned and put a 10-dollar bill in Jack's hand. Miko saw this and said "You guys bet whether or not I would leave the ship?" Jack looked at her with a satisfied look. "Yup, and I won." Ratchet shook his head and muttered "Humans."

Miko looked at her phone and saw the time. Her eyes widened slightly and she called to Bulkhead. "Hey Bulk, I need to head home early today, remember?" Bulkhead caught the metal ball before looking at her and saying "Oh yeah." He handed the ball back the Wheeljack and said "Sorry Jackie, gotta take Miko home." Wheeljack looked at Miko and asked "Any particular reason." Miko averted her eyes for a second before responding with "Family bonding night." Wheeljack looked at her and said "If theirs anything you need to tell us…" Miko cut him off and said "It's okay; I don't have any big secrets I'm hiding from you."

Bulkhead looked at Wheeljack and said "Don't worry about it Jackie, we can finish up that game when we get back." Wheeljack smiled a bit and said "If you say so." before casually tossing the ball behind his back…where it smashed into one of Ratchet's many tools. An irate Ratchet turned to him and yelled "WHEELJACK, I NEEDED THAT!" Wheeljack looked at the angry Ratchet for a second before he said "I'm going with Bulkhead." With that he and Bulkhead transformed and Miko quickly climbed into Bulkhead. Ratchet tried to stop them, but they were already out of the base by the time Ratchet got to where they were parked.

While he was seething, everyone except Optimus quietly left the room. When they were gone, Optimus spoke to Ratchet and said "Ratchet, I believe that studying the red energon would prove calming for you." Ratchet looked at Optimus and said "Very well then. But if Wheeljack comes back, tell him he has to help me repair what he damaged!" With that, Ratchet huffed and went over to examine the red energon.

* * *

While Bulkhead was driving Miko home, he and Wheeljack were regaling her about their raid on the mine; Miko especially enjoyed hearing about how Wheeljack used a Con drill to scatter the Cons. After a while, the three of them arrive in the tiny town of Jasper, Nevada, by which time it was getting a little late. Wheeljack looked around and commented "Nice place, if a bit boring."

Miko scoffed over the radio and replied "A bit boring; try absolutely mind-numbing. Jasper has absolutely nothing to do." Bulkhead responded to that with a laugh. "At least you have me and the others." Miko smiled before she answered. "That's true."

A few minutes later, they arrived at an intersection near a residential neighborhood. Wheeljack asked "Why are we stopping here?" Bulkhead answered with a matter-of-fact voice. "Miko says her host parents are overprotective and will ask a lot of questions if they see me drop her off, so she has me drop her off a couple blocks from her house to avoid them asking any questions."

Wheeljack saw Miko avert her eyes from the dashboard of Bulkheads vehicle mode and again felt suspicious. He still trusted Miko, but he's certain that she's hiding something; however, he didn't want to straight out ask her because he didn't want to hurt Bulkhead, whether accidentally or not. Miko got out of Bulkhead before saying "Night Bulkhead. Night Wheeljack." With that, she began walking towards the neighborhood while Bulkhead and Wheeljack drove off.

When they were a block away, Wheeljack turned to Bulkhead and said "Hey Bulk, I'm going to drive around for a bit, try to get my bearing about this place." Bulkhead replied with "Sure thing Jackie, but don't take too long. I still need to beat you at lobbing." Wheeljack replied "In your dreams Bulk." With that, they drove in opposite directions.

When Wheeljack was a fair bit down his direction, he turned back and headed to where Miko was dropped off. When he got there, he slowly began driving in the direction Miko was walking, keeping his engine as quiet as possible to avoid her seeing him. After a few minutes, he saw Miko in the distance, heading not towards the residential block, but towards a low-rent, partially abandoned part of town.

His curiosity peaked, Wheeljack slowly followed, staying as far behind as he could without losing sight of Miko. His curiosity increased when he saw her heading towards a seedy-looking apartment, enter in a pass-code, and enter through the doors.

Unable to follow any further, Wheeljack contented himself with driving back to base while thinking about Miko. She's hiding something, but he's certain that it's not something sinister. He wondered what she was keeping from even Bulkhead, and why. One thing that was for certain, their's a lot more to Miko then meets the eye.

* * *

Walking up the stairs to her cheap, non-too-clean apartment, Miko let a feeling a relief wash over her; the Clan still didn't know where she lived, and hopefully it would stay that way. Also, Jack, Raf, and the Bots still didn't know about her actual residence, though the believed that Wheeljack might be getting suspicious; she would have to be extra careful around him.

Upon reaching the top floor, she walked the door to her apartment, knocked on it four times, paused for three seconds, then knocked two more times. A few seconds later, the peephole opened up, showing an amber eye peering out at her suspiciously. Miko recited the password "No sacrifice, no surrender." The person on the other side closed the peephole and unlocked all four locks on the door.

The person who opened the door was a teenager a couple years older then her, with an impassive but concerned look on his face, dark-brown hair, and bright amber eyes, wearing a pair of brown slacks and a grey long-sleeve shirt with black shoes on his feet and a red scarf around his neck. Miko said to him "Hey Mako; any sign of the Clan finding us here."

The boy, Mako, looked at her and said "Not yet little sis. We're still safe, but I'm not sure for how much longer." Miko rolled her eyes and walked into the apartment. "You worry too much; we've secured our account as much as possible and have any signals we send out bounce through 40 satellites, which I'm pretty sure would drive most minds into the loony bin."

Mako looked at his little sister with his usual mild paranoia. "You're forgetting that a lot of the people our parents employ aren't exactly 'most minds'." Miko walked further into the apartment. "I convinced Raf to secure my laptop, remember. If he can help the Hatchet fix the computers at the base, he can keep out the Clan."

Mako just sighed wearily and walked after her. "I hope you're right, for all our sakes." Miko walked to the beat up fridge and got out a Pepsi before flopping down on the couch with a pensive look on her face. Mako noticed this and stood behind the couch. "Did something happen today?" Miko looked at her brother and smiled wanly; nothing about them gets past each other. "Sit down Mako; their's some bad news that needs telling."

With a concerned look, Mako sat down next to her and listened as she explained what happened at base: M.E.C.H. being disbanded, the red energon and the raid on the energon mine, Wheeljack arriving at base and asking a few questions, Miko joining the mission, and the squad of Clan assassins that were sent after her. When she finished the tale, Mako looked more concerned then usual.

He looked at her with a serious face and asked "Do you think they'll track the Autobots?" Miko shook her head and replied "I don't think so; they don't know where the base is and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't risk an all out attack." Mako nodded before sighing anturning his head down. "I know you don't want to think about this, but we might have to consider leaving Jasper."

Miko's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No way Mako. I've finally made friends here, real friends." Mako lifted his head up to look at her. "I'm not saying that we're going to do it, I'm just saying that we might have to consider it." Miko averted her eyes to the floor with a sad expression on her face. Mako lifted her chin up and looked straight in her eyes.

"I know this is difficult to think about, but the Clan will never stop looking for us. We at least have to make some preparations." Miko nodded reluctantly before she heard a noise. Turning, hers and Mako's faces instantly softened as they saw a little girl, a little over a year old, with shoulder length black hair and Miko's amber-brown eyes, walk into the room in her nightgown while holding a stuffed fox.

She looked at Miko with a confused look on her face. "Mommy, what are you and uncle Mako talking about?" Miko walked over to her 14-month-old daughter and gave her a big hug. "Nothing you need to know about sweetie." When she was done, Miko gave a sly smile in Mako's direction. "Now go give uncle Mako a hug; he really needs one." Mako's eyes widened as the little girl ran over and gave Mako a big hug…before he gave one of his rare smiles and hugged her back.

Miko walked over and looked at the toddler when she was done hugging. "Asami, why were you staying up so late." Asami looked at her mother with big eyes. "I wanted you to snuggle with me tonight." Miko's smile got that much bigger before she replied "Sure thing sweetie." Asami smiled and sat on the old couch in between her mother and fraternal uncle. Miko and Mako looked at each other with smiles on their faces and sat back in the couch with Asami.

For a moment, they both felt like they were just normal people living in a small town, with no worries other then Miko's grades. However, there was very little about them that was normal; Miko was a teenage mother, they're parents are leaders of an ancient criminal empire, they've been on the run from their parents for almost two years, and Miko regularly hangs out with giant transforming robots from another world who are now fighting a war on Earth.

But for now at least, they could pretend that they were just a family, albeit a very weird one, and one able to relax without having to constantly look over they're shoulders. For the time being, they could pretend to be normal.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at the science base in Japan, Clan Lord Hiroshi Nakadai was sitting at his private desk while going over the report of the squad he sent after Miko…the one that was soundly defeated. Despite their failure to capture his daughter, they still managed to gain valuable information about the Autobots and Miko's daughter, Asami apparently. Once his business here was complete, he and his wife would personally oversee the investigation and interrogation of all Clan lieutenants stationed within 100 miles of Kobe, as well as those who were stationed there during the few months prior Miko running off that have since been moved elsewhere, to find out which one fathered his granddaughter.

Despite the fact that Miko 'hates his guts' as the Americans would say, and no matter how important, loyal, or high-ranking the lieutenant in question is, Asami was concieved through statutory rape; the person responsible would face dire consequences for that act of dishonor against his family.

Just as he finished reading the report, his intercom buzzed; he answered with "_Yes_." The intern on the other side answered in Japanese with "_Clan lord, the scout team you sent to the mine has returned, and they were able to retrieve a small sample of red energon_." Hiroshi smiled and said "Excellent; s_end in the team leader_."

A few minutes later, a Japanese man in his mid-30s arrived with a small box in his hands and sat down in the chair in front of Hiroshi's desk. Hiroshi smiled slightly and said in Japanese "_I here you were successful in obtaining a tiny piece of the red energon the Autobots were after_."

The man nodded and replied "_Yes clan lord; while they were transporting the red energon through the portal, a small piece fell off; we were able to retrieve it before they came back through_." With that he opened the lid of the box and took out a glowing red crystal, about size of Hiroshi's fist. Hiroshi smiled and said "_Excellent work. Now tell me, what did you observe about the Autobots?_"

The team leader replied "_They work well as a team and remain focused on their objectives; that is likely how they have managed to outwit the Decepticon faction for the past few years. Also, the one called Wheeljack is skilled at improvisation, and he seems significantly more reckless then the other Autobots. Also, we observed that he appears to be a good friend of Bulkhead_." Hiroshi nodded before looking him in the eye. "_Did you manage to attach a tracking device on any of the Autobots?_"

The team leader shook his head and answered "_No clan lord. We were unable to get close enough without the risk of being seen being too great_." Hiroshi nodded again and said "_Very well then. That will be all_." The team leader got up, bowed slightly, and left the room, leaving the red energon on the desk.

When he left, Hiroshi stared at the red energon on his desk; he wondered what it was that made it different from regular energon, and made a mental note to have the science team make it a priority. He then opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a topographic map of a small town called Jasper, Nevada.

It was a small desert town, relatively untouched by the consumerism that had swept through the rest of the U.S., and with few establishments of great notice; in short, it is a perfect hiding-place for those who do not want to be found.

He knew that Miko was still in the continental U.S., but he had no idea of where she might be until one of his American lieutenants informed him a few weeks back that one of his agents had spotted someone similar to Miko while passing through that town.

Hiroshi also pulled out a picture depicting a teenage boy from Jasper, Jackson William Darby, riding a dark-blue motorcycle on a desert road just outside the town; a motorcycle that is the confirmed vehicle mode of the female Autobot, Arcee. Jack Darby apparently is a friend of the Autobots, meaning that the Autobot Base is likely within a few miles of Jasper. And where the Autobots are…Miko is likely to be not far behind.

* * *

And thus, Part 2 of Miko's Secrets is complete. I tried splitting the chapter in two and the second part turned out to be almost twice the length of the first chapter. I put some of the second chapter content in the fist chapter to even the lengths out, and I hope you like it. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcomed, but flames are not appreciated; I'll understand that some of you might not like my story, but if you really hate it, please try to keep those thoughts to yourself. Like I said at the end of the last chapter, this Mako's personality is based on the Mako seen in Legend of Korra. His clothes and most physical features are original, but the hair color, amber eyes, and red scarf are taken from the LOK Mako. Next chapter (or next two chapters, depending on how long it becomes), Wheeljack tries to figure out what Miko's hiding without arousing anyone's suspicion, while Miko tries to avoid any suspicious questions. Also, Agent Fowler visits the base and alerts the Autobots the technology stolen by M.E.C.H. Later, the Autobots get a distress call from a quintet of Autobots that had crashed in the Australian Outback: a talented rookie, a loner tracker, a self-doubting flyer, a bubbly medic-in-training, and a prank-loving warrior. Who are these new Autobots and how did they get here? And when will Miko reveal her many secrets? Find out the answers to these questions next time. Until then, this is the Prime Writer, signing off until next time.


	3. New Recruits

Greetings to the fine people that visit this website, and especially to those that read my stories. Welcome to the third chapter of "The Trials and Stories of Miko", currently one of my most visited stories. I said at the end of the last chapter that a bunch of new Autobots would join Team Prime, and that Wheeljack would continue to ask Miko questions. I changed that last part so that Wheeljack would respect the fact that Miko's keeping secrets and will tell them when she feels like it. You also saw Miko's daughter Asami and her older brother Mako; I hope you like their depictions. I didn't get a whole lot of reviews for the second chapter, for reasons I don't really know of, and I would appreciate it if you left some reviews when you finish reading this chapter please. Another note, the majority of the goons and fighters that work for the Clan are not ninjas, even though much of their training is probably what a ninja would recieve; the stealth suits are based on the sneak suits used by ninjas in feudal japan, but most Clan grunts, including the ones Miko fought last chapter, are not ninjas; just thought I should make that clear. That said, their are ninjas employed by the Kamakura Clan, but they won't really be seen all that often, and their unifroms are pretty different from those of regular Clan grunts; they're also a lot more dangerous, and some senior Clan ninjas helped train Miko. Now that all that's out of the way, on to the disclaimer: Transformers Prime is the property of The Hub, which is partially the property of Hasbro. All Autobots I'm using that are not part of the TFP show are the property of Hasbro. Now that all that is out of the way, let us experience Chapter 3 of my story; again, please read and review.

* * *

Chapter 3: New Recruits

_In an underground facility in the mountains of Japan, a very nervous-looking 13-year-old girl named Miko Nakadai was making sure that she was completely alone before she began another test. This is not a test of strategy or weaponry, nor is it a test of combat or assassination; this is at the same time one of the strangest and yet most terrifying tests she's ever taken...a pregnancy test. M__iko knew where babies came from and she knew how they became real; she also knew for certain who the father was._

_ It was a few days after her 13th birthday; she was assigned to take out a group of stock-investors in Kobe who were pulling out of one of the more important legitimate businesses for the Yakuza, an important Clan ally. Miko had managed to make the assassination attempt look like it was botched due to a few extra attentive security guards, some misleading intel provided by a double agent, and a fair amount of blind luck. One of the middle lieutenants stationed in the city at the time found out and threatened to tell Miko's parents unles she did him a little 'favor'. Miko accepted, not knowing what the favor was...now she wondered if that favor would get her in even bigger trouble._

_Her parents didn't love her, she figured that out long ago, and they would most likely not take kindly to their 13-year-old daughter being pregnant by a man 3 times her age. Miko wasn't very sure about being a mother either; she wanted to be a mother and have a bunch of children, but not at this age, and she knew her parents would not treat Miko's son or daughter very nicely._

_Miko forced her thoughts away from how the child might be treated and back to using the pregnancy tester. According to the box, Miko just needed to put in a small sample of her urine and wait a few minutes for the result ot come in. A single pink line means Miko isn't pregnant; two pink lines means she is pregnant._

_Miko put in the sample and decided to think about what she would do if she was pregnant. She couldn't tell her parents, they would not be happy and probably try to make her get an abortion. Mako she will tell, they always told each other everything; Mako still wouldn't be able to stop their parents from making Miko abort. The only option she could see that had a chance of guaranteeing her child's safety was running away to another country, but even then she would likely be hunted by the Clan operatives stationed there._

_A beeping from the pregancy tester distracted Miko from further thoughts. She looked at the little plastic screen and saw two pink lines. She was going to be a mom. A look of determination crossed Miko's face. She was going to tell Mako, and they were going to have to run away from their parents. And she was going to do everything in her power to make sure her child would remain safe from harm._

* * *

Miko's dream/memory was cut off by the beeping of her accursed alarm clock. She groggily turned it off and tried to get in a few more minutes of sleep...she didn't. Forcing herself out of her bed, Miko got on her usual clothes and went to check on Asami before she got her breakfast. Asami was still sleeping on her bed, the blanket wrapped around her and her favorite stuffed animal, a stuffed fox, being used as a pillow. Miko smiled and ran her hand through her daughter's long black, hair, so much like her own. Mako walked in a few minutes later in his boxers and night shirt to check up on them. Despite his worries, which never seemed to completely leave him, Mako smiled at the scene and left without saying a word.

Miko came into the kitchen a few minutes later and saw Mako making some bacon on the barely working stovetop. "Hope you plan to share some with me." Mako looked at her with a semi-serious look on his face. "This basically is for you; you need a bigger breakfest then an apple or a couple poptarts every morning." Miko just got out the small jug of the orange juice and poured herself a glass, pouring some in a couple extra glasses for Mako and Asami. "If you ask me, Asami should be getting most of the good food we have; she's a growing girl who needs nutrients."

At that moment, Asami came toddling into the room with her stuffed fox in hand. "Hi mommy." Miko immediatly smiled upon seeing her daughter. "Hey sweetie, how ya doing?" Asami yawned and rubbed her eye. "Still tired." Miko nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, same here."

Miko picked up Asami and placed her in her lap, making Asami giggle, while Mako put the bacon an a plate and set it in front of Miko and Asami. Miko picked up a piece and gave it to Asami before eating some herself. "Mommy, when can I meet the Autbots? They sound really nice." Miko paused and looked at her daughter.

"Well...you know that your grandma and grandpa are looking for all of us, and the Autobots still don't know about you or Mako. If my parents find out about us and send some of their goons after us, then we'll go to the Autobots. For now, lets keep the secret okay." Asami looked at her mother and said "Okay."

* * *

The rest of the morning passed fairly normally...well, normally for Miko anyway. Miko got on her favorite clothes, Mako checked the traps and security systems, Asami readied her toys and playsets for the day, and Miko said goodbye to both before heading to her usual spot to wait for Bulkhead.

School passed fairly normally as well. She greeted Jack and Raf, sat through the boring first few classes, had lunch, endured the usual sniping and teasing from Vince and his pals, sat through yet more boring classes, recieved all her homework, and waited for Bulkhead to pick her up and take her to base.

When she and the others got to base, the first thing Miko did was head up to the couch, set her homework down beside the coffee table, flop down on the couch, and start another video game. Soon enough, Raf joined her and they began yet another series of matches and rematches, yet again annoying Ratchet the Hatchet, as Miko had taken to thinking him as.

"I'll never understand what humans find amusing about playing virtual games when the real world is so much more exciting." In response to Ratchet's gripe about video games, Miko paused her game and looked over the couch.

"A bunch of times you can't experience the real world, and video games are the next best thing. Try and think about that next time Hatchet." As soon as she said Hatchet, Ratchet paused what he was doing, growled slightly, and turned to face her.

"Do not call me Hatchet. I swear I've forgotten how many time Sunstreaker and Sideswipe called me that back on Cybertron." The mention of those two Autobots peaked Miko's and Raf's interest; Raf asked first. "Who were Sunstreaker and Sideswipe?"

Ratchet looked at them with exasperated annoyance. "They were two of the best fighters in the Autobot Army; any martial art known on Cybertron, they mastered. They were also two of the most annoying, flirtatious, prank-happy Mechs I have ever had the dubious pleasure of meeting. To put it bluntly, they were male, Cybertronian versions of Miko."

Miko uttered an awed "cool." and the rest of the Autobots piped in with their own knowledge of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Arcee spoke up in an annoyed voice.

"They were good fighters, and good Mechs. But I cannot tell you how many times they tried flirting with me; and they knew full well that incurable flirts are one of my major pet peeves." Wheeljack added to that in an amused voice.

"Remember when Sunny tried flirting with Chromia, when Ironhide was right behind him." Arcee let out a few amused snorts. "Oh yeah, really did not want to be him at that moment." Jack spoke up when Arcee managed to control her laughs.

"They sound a bit like Knockout as well as Miko." Bulkhead spoke up. "They were just as protective of their paintjobs as Knockout is, maybe even more so, but they were nowhere near as narcisstic as Knockout is. They knew when to stop messing around and be serious, and they kept up group morale in their own prank-filled way."

When Bulkhead finished, Ratchet snorted and added "Easy for you to say; you were never one of their favorite targets. Miko at least doesn't pull any on us." Miko piped up. "That's partially because it's hard and expensive to find enough pranking supplies to succesfully pull one on you guys." Ratchet just turned back to his screens.

"Whatever the reason, I'm glad theirs no pranking." He turned to Miko in a warning voice. "But I suggest not calling me Hatchet unless you want me to lock you out of the base." Miko raised her hands placatingly and replied "Okay, okay; no calling you Hatchet."

Ratchet seemed satisfied with that and turned back to his screens, at which point Wheeljack spoke up. "That's not to say we still can't call you Hatchet." Ratchet growled in annoyance and tried to focus on his work.

The next hour passed along fairly normally; Miko, Raf, and Jack took turns playing games, Ratchet worked on finding new energon deposits while mumbling under his breath, Bulkhead and Wheeljack played some lobbing, Bumblebee occasionally joined in on playing video games, and Arcee and Optimus scouted for any untapped energon deposits outside of base.

It wasn't until 4:00 P.M. that something interesting happened. It started with the base's proximity sensor going off just as Optimus and Arcee got back from yet another unsuccesful scouting mission. The base's elevator opened to reveal a pudgy, dark-haired African-American man in a suit with brown eyes, a noticable pot-belly, and a stern look on his face. That person is Special Agent William 'Bill' Fowler, a former army Ranger and who was appointed as the official liaison between the Autobots and the U.S. Government. He tends to be loud, gruff, and a bit demanding, usually only calling or appearing at the Autobot base when they do something that threatens national security. Deep down, Fowler does value them as trusted comrades, and always takes their side when the odds are against them. He is also a skilled pilot, able to fly both helicopters and fighter jets, and occasionally provides air support for the ground-based Autobots. At other times, he can annoy them pretty well.

"Prime." Optimus responded to Fowler's gruff welcome in his usual even tone of voice. "Special Agent Fowler, Are their any issues regarding the M.E.C.H. agents or their technology?" A curious look crossed Wheeljack's face as he looked at Fowler.

"M.E.C.H., those tech-obsessed humans led by that Silas who dissected Breakdown, worked with Arachnid, and nearly cut apart Arcee?" Folwer looked in his direction and nodded grimly.

"The same ones, and just last week they created some Optimus Prime knockoff that we named Nemesis Prime, which they used to incriminate us by having Nemesis Prime destroy a military base. We managed to beat the machine and captured most of the M.E.C.H. agents and confiscate most of their technology, but some agents managed to get away."

Fowler looked back at the Autobots when he finished. "Those remaining agents are what I came to talk to you guys about." Every Autobot was instantly on edge, wondering what the remaining M.E.C.H. agents had done.

"The current ringleader of those agents is Marcus Verne, a former military scientist who assisted Silas with building the DAMOCLES satelite back when Silas was Colonel Leland Bishop; he went underground the same time Bishop did, and apparently became M.E.C.H.'s head scientist." Bulkhead spoke up when Fowler finished. "How'd you find that out?"

Folwer's face darkened. "Because he's perhaps the only person other then Silas who has the knowledge and the codes to hack into the U.S. Military base completley undetected, a fet that I bet even Raf would have difficulty with."

Every 'Bots eyes widened at that; Raf is one of the smartest humans anyone will ever meet, and if Fowler says with absolute certainty that he would have trouble with something, then that would be bad news.

Arcee spoke first. "What'd they do, steal some government funds?" Fowler shook his head and looked at her. "Worse, the managed to get the blueprints and access codes to a bunch of Silas's old projects. Back when Silas was Colonel Bishop, he was dishonorably discharged for his genius but radical, over-the-top weapons ideas; DAMOCLES wasn't his first idea, or his craziest. Even worse, some M.E.C.H. agents managed to sneak into the Colorado base where the prototypes of Silas's weapons were kept and managed to make off with all of them."

That got everyone concerned. Optimus spoke up after a couple minutes of silence. "Then the Nemesis Prime was a diverson as well as a way to damage our already shakey relationship with your government; the military and us Autobots were so busy dealing with M.E.C.H. that they managed to obtain the blueprints, codes, and prototypes of a number of dangerous weapons."

Jack spoke up. "What kind of weapons are we talking about?" Fowler rattled off the whole list. "DAMOCLES was a particle-beam cannon so powerful it could carve up Fort Knox or the Pentagon like a birthday cake, or give everyone on Mount Rushmore a mohawk, all from a satellite in orbit and with pin-point accuracy. Project BIG BANG was similar in that it used a satellite-mounted weapon, but the particle-beam cannon was replaced with anti-matter cannons that could potentially destroy an are the size of North and South Dakota combined. The first satellite weapon he designed was Project METEOR, a rail-gun that grabbed space-debris and electromagnetically charged them so that they could deal thrice the damage of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combines. Project SOUNDWAVE created sonic cannons that generate Hyper-Low Frequency sound-blasts able to destroy entire city-blocks. Project SOLANUM created a hyper-potent neurotoxin gas that's more-or-less guaranteed to kill almost all organic life in its dispersion radius in under a minute."

The whole base fell silent to the point where Fowler could hear a pin drop from the bottom of the base. Those weapons, ones which were designed by a human, are basically the works of a madman. Ratchet was reminded of some powerful weapons designed by the Decepticon scientist Shockwave, and the weapon ideas he just heard sound exactly like what Shockwave would create. Wheeljack was the first to break the silence.

"Just when you think you got something figured out, that something throws you for a loop." The others could only stare in silent agreement. Optimus looked at Fowler and spoke in a serious voice. "Do you know where the M.E.C.H. agents escaped to, or where they stolen weapons are being kept?"

Fowler looked at him gravely. "We know that the agents and the weapons are in the same place, but that's it. Whatever base Marcus and the other M.E.C.H. agents are using, it was one not on the lists of bases we found; likely an emergency fallback base for exactly these types of situations."

Miko was silent and her head bowed, as she was especially worried about the stolen weapons. She knew for a fact that M.E.C.H. had started as a direct result of her parent's funding as a way to develop and test advanced weapons while not drawing attention to the Clan. Even back when Silas and Verne were part of the military, they had been contacted by the Clan; the ideas tht became the weapons mentioned by Fowler were given to Silas by her parents. When Silas and Verne were dishonourably discharged, her parents provided the funding and supplies needed to jumpstart M.E.C.H. and gather new recruits. Silas may be dead-possibly-but Verne almost definatly escaped, and the blueprints, access codes, and weapon prototypes would likely be transferred to the Clan. If Silas was still alive, even barely, then her parent's warped sense of 'honor' would likely cause them to render whatever aid they could to Silas. She lifted her head up when she heard Fowler speak again.

"Army tech specialists are going reinforce their firewalls and add in extra measures to alert them to any future M.E.C.H. intrusion, and security's going to be tightened around all military bases and supply depots, but that's all we can really do without alerting the public. General Bryce says that he hopes Team Prime will assist in any and all future M.E.C.H. problems." Optimus responded in a calm voice, but their was a hint of iron determination within it.

"Any future issues with M.E.C.H. we will gladly assist with." Fowler nodded and replied "I'll tell him you said that." With that, he walked towards the elevator and entered it before heading back up to the small landing pad his helicopter was parked at. When he left, everyone was silent for a minute before Optimus turned and looked at everyone.

"Everyone, resume your duties. M.E.C.H. may have played us for fools, but if they choose to show themselves in the future, we will stop them." Everyone looked at him and nodded with steely determination. Ratchet turned back to his screens while Raf started typing on the internet again. Miko decided to talk to him to help take her mind off what her parents and the Clan might do with the stolen weapons.

"So what's the miniture Einstein doing today?" Raf didn't look up from his laptop. "It's been a while since I've checked the conspiracy websites for any photos of Autobots or Decepticons, are of anything remotely Cybertronian." A beep came from his computer. "Got one already."

The photo that popped up showed Bumblebee, in robot mode, walking through an alley in the more dilapitated part of Jasper. Bumblebee saw this and instantly looked-and beeped-sheepishly. Ratchet saw the photo as well and rounded on Bee in exasperated annoyance. "Why in the name of the Allspark did you do that?"

Raf spoke up. "Bee told me that day that he was going ot be a bit late to pick me up from school, and I had an important family thing to do that day. Apparently he decided to take a short-cut." Ratchet looked at Bumblebee.

"Next time you need a shortcut, ask for a groundbridge." Bumblebee nodded sheepishly as Raf began removing the photo of Bumblebee to another file. "Removing Bumblebee, and replacing it with..." Raf replaced the Bumblebee picture with a moving picture of an animated monkey in a suit with a cane and a top-hat doing a basic tap-dance. Jack smirked upon seeing the familiar picture.

"The Tap-Dancing Monkey strikes again." Jack and Raf high-fived each other while Bee whirred and looked away before Ratchet cut in. "Bumblebee's sightings on the world-wide web are no laughing matter." Miko spoke up in her usual semi-excitability.

"Come on Ratchet, it could be worse; besides, you laughed at one of those pictures Raf put up once." Ratchet just shook his head exasperatingly and muttered "I'll never understand how some human culture is both useless and engrossing at the same time." Miko just smiled.

Jack glanced back at the computer and noticed something odd, which he alerted Raf to. "Wait, what's that?" Raf looked at the picture in question, taken by someone from central Australia, and what the picture showed surprised him as well.

"A Cybertronian escape-pod?" Raf enlarged the picture and put it up on the main screen; Ratchet was just as surprised as Raf and Jack. "Here in Earth's atmosphere?" Arcee spoke up first upon seeing the picture.

"Autobot or Decepticon." Ratchet answered in a semi-worried voice "It appears Decepticon, but its otherwise impossible to tell, given the image resolution." Wheeljack spoke next in an exasperated voice. "Great, as if we don't have enough Cons to worry about."

Optimus turned to Ratchet and spoke in a copmmanding voice. "Ratchet, can you determine the pod's exact location." Ratchet typed a few keys before the main screen narrowed to a location in the Australian Outback. "The pod landed in this location, far from the nearest human settlement."

Optimus turned to everyone. "Whether the occupant or occupants of the pod are Autobot or Decepticon, this event merits further investigation." Optimus then turned to Wheeljack.

"Wheeljack, will you help us with rescuing any Autobots, or fighting off any Decepticons?" Wheeljack pounded his fists together and replied "Not a problem sir."

Optimus then turned to Bumblebee. "Bumblebee, man the groundbridge; our unknowns may require a medic more then a warrior." Bee nodded in reply and readied the groundbridge coordinates while Ratchet went to get his medical kit.

By the time Ratchet got back, Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack were ready to head through the groundbridge. Bumblebee activated the groundbridge while Optimus spoke to everyone. "Autobots, roll out." With that, all Autobots going through the portal transformed into their alt modes and drove through.

* * *

In the Outback of the continent/country of Australia, the air was silent save for the calls of a few birds and the rustling of the sparse brush in the light breeze. The silence was broken when a tunnel of green light opened up and several vehicles drove through. When the vehicles left the groundbridge, they transformed into the Autobots, while the groundbridge close behind them.

Ratchet spoke up whil the other activated their weapons. "I had Bumblebee open the groundbridge a few klicks from the pod's landing site, just in case we find unwanted company." Optimus looked at Ratchet and said "Then lead the way old friend." Ratchet nodded and started walking in the direction of the pod, the others following him.

It took the Autobots to come across the landing site fo the pod...which was more of a crash-landing. The pod's landing had created a deep trench filled with energon that had leaked out of the pod when it landed. Arcee approached the pod and brushed some dirt off the pod's insignia...its _Decepticon_ insignia.

Optimus saw this and spoke in a grave tone. "It is a five-mech pod of Decepticon origin." Arcee spoke with some venom in her voice. "And whatever Cons were inside busted themselves out."

Before they could continue, they were distracted by the blaster-fire of a large group of Decepticon soldiers firing at them, and a pair of Insecticons were with them as well. The insecticons are massive beasts that are all taller then most other transformers, even Optimus Prime and Megatron. They have a green-and-black paint-job with a single optic streeched across their face. While they are lacking in intellect, they more then make up for that with brute strength and thick armor.

All the Autobots ducked behind some rocks and readied their weapons. Arcee spoke just before they entered the fight. "All those Cons came out of one pod?". Ratchet responded as he brought out his blades. "Humans refer to the phenomena as a clown-car." With that, Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack opened fire on the Decepticon troops.

Leading the troops is a shiny, bright red mech with blood-red accents about the same hight as most of the Vehicons, with blood-red optics, some off-white-collored pieces of armor , a pair of car doors on his arms, and a look of vain smugness on his face. That mech is the Decepticon medic and scientist Knockout; Knockout is basically the Decepticon's answer to Ratchet, but he is extremely vain and puts his own appearence and well-being above all else, and cares very little for his patients or anything other then himself.

Knockout looked to all the troops. "Keep advancing; we'll wear the Autobots down and take them prisoner." The Autobots were having some luck, but for every troop they blasted, 2 more kept coming.

One of the Insecticons changed out of his vehicle mode, which looks similar to a Hercules Beetle and allows them to fly, right in front of Ratchet, prompting him to shout in surprise while the Insecticon let out its kind's signature shriek and prepared to kill him. Thankfully for Ratchet, Arcee jumped in and knocked it away before she blasted dead-center in the chest, causing it to fall over.

Ratchet and Arcee were forced to duck behind some rocks when the rest of the Con soldiers began firing on them. Arcee was about to fire back when she heard something above her head. She, Ratchet, Knockout, and some of the Vehicons looked up to see a silver Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jet-plane with cobalt-blue tailfins with a few highlights of the same color on the rest of it's body fly overhead.

This instantly peaked Arcee's curiosity, causing her to turn to Ratchet. "One of the new Cons?" Before Ratchet could answer, a beeping from his device caused him to look away. His eyes widened slightly at what he saw. "According to this, the plane is reading as an Autobot."

Arcee's eyes widened as well, but before she could ask anything, she looked up to see the plane dropping into a steep dive...heading right for the Vehicons. Knockout's eyes widened as he uttered "What is that bot thinking?" The bot in question kept diving towards the massed Vehicons, causing some to open fire on the plane, but he weaved in and out of every blast.

When he was just a few hundred feet from the ground, he pulled up just after he launched a pair of missiles at the troops. Knockout managed to escape, but the two remaining Insecticons and a third of the Vehicons weren't so lucky...the missiles blew them to bits and scattered the rest of the troops.

Just then, everyone present heard the rumble of engine noises and turned in the direction of the noises. Those present saw a sea-green MV Agusta F4 Motorcycle with a few cyan-blue waves, a bright red Lamborghini Gallardo, a red, white, and blue Lotus Exige sports car with double 38's on the doors, and an olive-green 2-door Jeep Wrangler with a black hard-top and khaki-brown highlights, with the jet-plane flying over them; all of them apparently had no drivers.

Suddenly, all the vehicles transformed and turned into _Autobots._ The motorcycle turned into a female Autobot that, other then being a few feet shorter, was remarkably similar to Arcee, with a sea-green paint-job and some wavy cyan-blue lines on her lower arms and legs and around her face. The jet-plane became a tall, mostly silver Autobot with cobalt-blue highlights on his shoulders, helm, and the wings on his back. The jeep turned into a fairly tall Autobot with black-and-olive-green armor with tan-brown highlights on his shoulders, wrists, elbows, and helm. The Lotus Exige turned into a medium-sized Autobot being taller than Ratchet but smaller than Bulkhead. His door wings, anchored to his back like wings similar to Bumblebee's, are checkered red, blue, and white with 38's on both of them. He also has 2 streaks of red on his head and his armor is mainly white and blue. The Lamborghini turned into a bright red Autobot that was familiar to all Autobots who saw him...much to Arcee's and Ratchet's dismay.

The second the Autobots transformed, they started firing energon blasts from their arm-cannons, except for the female, who pulled out a pair of energon pistols. Knockout ducked behind a rock and looked to the troops. "Open fire, immediatly."

The Vehicons fired back, but the loss of numbers from the missile blast and the sudden arrival of new Autobots demoralized them and left them outflanked. Optimus, Arcee, Wheeljack, and Bulkhead started firing at the vehicons as well, forcing the troops on the defensive.

Ratchet used his blades to handle any vehicons that were brave enough, desperate enough, or stupid enough to try and make a run towards Arcee. A couple of Vehicons managed to sneak up behind him and tried to ambush him, but the female Autobot that apparently came from the pod jumped in front of them, pulled out a pair of blades, and quickly took them down with a few quick slashes.

The Autobot then looked at them, and asked in a faint valley-girl accent "Are the two of you okay?" Arcee and Ratchet instantly recognized her and smiles spread across her face. Arcee spoke first. "Moonracer, is that you?" The Autobot, Moonracer, smiled and replied "Yup."

Arcee smiled and ran up to hug her younger sister, who quickly reciprocated. Ratchet came up to his adopted niece with a smile on his face. "Moonracer I cannot tell you how good it is to see you again." His face soured at he looked in the direction of the red mech. "Sideswipe on the other hand, not so much."

The red mech-Sideswipe-was blasting away at the Vehicons like crazy, yet never missing a shot. A large number of troops started closing in on him, so Sideswipe deactivated his blasters and popped out a pair of large, curving blades from the sides of his arms before charging at the Vehicons and slicing through them before any of them could get a shot off. When that was done, he retracted his blades and brought out his blasters again before firing at another cluster of troops.

Moonracer looked to her sister and adopted uncle. "Hey, Sideswipe may be a hotshot but he's not that bad, at least not once you get to know him." Arcee's reply was flat. "Ratchet and I know him, we still don't like him."

Bulkhead and Wheeljack had sinced stopped using their blasters and brought out their close range weapons. A few Vehicons were getting a bit too close to them for comfort, and they readied they're weapons. However, neither of them got to use said weapons.

The black and green Autobot came up and popped out a hammer with a spike on the back and started bashing into the Vehicons like they were nothing. When he finished, he looked at Bulkhead and Wheeljack and spoke in an Australian accent.

"Been a while since we bashed together, isn't it lads." Bulkhead recognized that voice instantly, causing him to run over and hug the Autobots. "Outback, man it's been a while." Wheeljack came up with a smile on his face. "Easy Bulkhead, don't squish him too hard." Bulkhead promptly put Outback down, who spoke again after a couple seconds.

"Am I to guess that we're the only Wreckers on this planet?" Wheeljack answered with "Pretty much, but but for these Cons, that's more then enough." Knockout saw that they were losing and turned to one of the Vehicons.

"Order an emergency groundbridge and call for reinforcements." The Wreckers heard this and shook their heads. Bulkhead spoke first. "He shouldn't have called for backup." All three of them then spoke as one. "He should've called for cleanup!" With that, they reactivated their blasters and charged back into the fray.

As one, all Autobots charged after the retreating Vehicons, surprising them and causing them to falter and stumble. The red, blue, and white Autobot saw all the energon in the ditch created by the pod and got an idea. He turned to the others to warn them.

"Heys guys, I suggest you find some cover fast; things are about to get explosive." Optimus saw that he was aiming at the spilled energon and looked to the others, "Fall back!" As soon as Optimus ordered that, the red, blue, and white Autobot shot a blast at the energon, instantly causing it to catch fire.

Knockout saw this too, as well as an opening groundbridge. He called to the troops in a panicked voice. "Fall back, head to the groundbridge quick!" Knockout and some Vehicons managed to make it to the portal just before the pod blew, but the rest weren't so lucky.

When the explosion was over and the dust had cleared, blue flames were everywhere and the scattered parts of unlucky Vehicons could be seen among the wreckage. The red, blue, and white Autobot that had fired the blast looked aver a ridge and shouted in exileration. "Wooohoo! To hot for ya, Cons!?"

Ratchet looked to Wheeljack and sardonically asked "Friend of yours?" Wheeljack replied with "Never seen him before." The young Autobot came down to them. "Blowing up that energon leak; Pretty good plan right?" Arcee's reply was one of discipline.

"It was more like a reckless shot that almost blew us to the Allspark." The youngster was unabashed. "Worked out, didn't it?" Before Arcee could continue, Sideswipe came up to her with a suave smile. "Arcee, it's been too long beautiful." Arcee sarcastically replied with "Oh yeah, I cry myself to recharge every night."

Optimus turned the conversation towards him. "Fellow Autobots, we thank you for coming to our aid, but I believe more proper greetings are required." The young hotshot, who looked awed at the presence of Optimus Prime, was the first to introduce himself and snapped to a salute. "Smokescreen, sir!"

Sideswipe just smiled smugly. "I'm sure you've heard of the great warrior Sideswipe." Ratchet's reply was laden with sarcasm. "Yes, you're egotism is well known to both sides." The flying Autobot introduced himself somewhat hesitatingly. "Uh, names Skydive, tactical specialist in training."

Moonracer by comparison was much more relaxed. "Names Moonracer, younger sister of Arcee and medic-in-training under my adopted uncle, Ratchet." Wheeljack snorted with laughter. "The Hatchet's you're uncle?" Ratchet, Arcee and Moonracer all sent glares at him.

Outback turned their attention away from Wheeljack. "Names Outback, tracking expert for the Wreckers, and in a pinch I'm a pretty good field-medic." Optimus smiled at the five newcomers. "Welcome to Earth, all of you."

Smokescreen spoke up first when introductions were done. "It's an honor to be here, especially with you sir." Moonracer put a hand to Smokescreen's shoulder. "Easy there Smoke, you looked lke you about to babble."

Ratchet walked up and asked what was on everyone's mind. "Although I'm happy that your all okay, I have to ask: how did you wind up in a Decepticon escape-pod?" Skydive spoke up. "That sir is a bit of a long story, probably best if we explain it at you're base; at least, that's what I think." Optimus nodded. "Very well then." He then spoke into his comm. link. "Bumblebee, activate the groundbridge; we have several new recruits."

A second later, the familiar swirling green tunnel of a groundbridge opened up. The Autobots, now with almost twice the numbers they once had, walked through to base...completely unaware that a purple, bird-like Decepticon drone known as Laserbeak heard and saw the whole thing.

* * *

Miko, Raf, Jack, and Bumblebee all expected Optimus Prime and the other Autobots to come throught the portal; they did not expect five new Autobots that they had never seen before come through with them. Naturally, Miko was the first to speak to the new Autobots.

"New Autobots, Cool! We haven't had anybody new since Wheeljack, now we have five! Whoe are you guys? What are you're stories? Where'd you come from? How'd you get here? Are any of you Wreckers? How many blaster you guys packing?"

The five new Autobots just looked at Miko with confusion. Moonracer turned to her adoptive uncle. "Are all the natives like this?" Ratchet replied "Fortunatly not." Optimus spoke to the new Autobots.

"These are humans, the indigenous sentients of this planet. For the most part, we Autobots have chosen to live among them as robots in disguise. However, there are a few humans who have learned our secret. Although they lack the size to assist us in the field, they have made several notable contrabutions."

Sideswipe looked at the humans dubiously before he turned to Optimus. "No offense Prime, but I have a hard time believing that these humans could really be all that useful." Ratchet looked at Sideswipe.

"That's what I thought at first, but I have since been proven wrong." He then gestured to Raf. "Rafael for example has a knowledge of human technology that rivals that of most adults his age; I have even come to rely on his expertise whenever I'm experiencing problems with the technology we use...which tend to happen far too often for my taste."

Jack turned to Arcee. "So I'm guessing that mission was more succesful then you thought it would be?" Arcee nodded and replied "Definitely." Moonracer came over to her big sister and noticed Jack. "And this human would be?"

Arcee introduced them. "Moonracer, this is my current partner, Jack Darby. Jack, this is my little sister and Ratchet's adopted niece Moonracer." Jack smiled at Moonracer, who smiled back.

At the same, Bulkhead and Wheeljack were introducing Outback to Miko...who quickly bombarded him with questions. "You're a Wrecker, that's so cool! What was your rank? How big are your blasters? How many Cons have you blasted?" Outback looked at Bulkhead and said "Fiesty little thing ain't she?" Bulkhead laughed and replied "As close as the humans will get to making a Wrecker cadet."

Skydive and Smokescreen watchet the humans being introduced with some interest while Sideswipe just looked around the room in boredom. Optimus spoke up and regained everyone's attention, though his query was directed at Skydive.

"Skydive, you said that you would tell us the reason for the five of you being in a Decepticon escape-pod upon your arrival to base." Skydive stared at Optimus wide-eyed for a second before he said "Of course sir." and cleared his throat.

"The main thrust of combat operations was about twenty clicks to the Hall of Records, so things have been pretty quiet, but the situation went downhill fast. The 'Cons launched a massive surge that wiped out the last line of defensive surrounding Iacon. Moonracer and I managed to escape and meet up with Smokescreen at the Hall of Records. We were the only Autobots left to hold them back, and let me tell ya…Smoke and I were _pumped_. This was our chance to see real action for the first time! To prove ourselves to our superiors". His helm bowed slightly. "But we were caught in an explosion, and blacked out. 'Cons took us prisoner and dumped us on a transport ship. But Smokescreen woke up and freed me and Moonracer; we managed to give a guard the slip and hop in an escape pod. A few clicks later, we crashed on a planet pretty much infested with 'Cons. We met up with Outback, a former Wrecker who had decided to go it alone, and Sideswipe, who crashed on that planet after the Autobots scattered from the Ark. We launched a daring raid on a 'Con space-port and managed to obtain a ship, but it was badly damaged before we could get very far, and we had to hop in an escape pod. Apparently it was a long distance pod, because it knocked us into stasis. Next thing I knew, we're hitting solid ground…hard."

Ratchet spoke up when Skydive had finished. "The Decepticons' warship must have picked up the pod's beacon and guided it to Earth." Arcee. added to that with "Which would explain their welcoming committee." Sideswipe looked at Arcee suavely. "Bet those 'Cons were disappointed not to find some of their own inside, right 'Cee?" Arcee just rolled her eyes.

Optimus approached Smokescreen. "Smokescreen, what were you doing in the Hall of Records?" Smokescreen gestured to an Autobot symbol on his right shoulder with three line on each side of the face spread out in a wing pattern.

"Skydive and I graduated from the Elite Guard Acadamy as the top two in our class. The acadamy wasn't much more then a bootcamp by the time we got there; we weren't able to get the proper graduation ceremony I had hoped for. After our graduation, Skydive was sent to some special class in Iacon to continue his training in tactics and strategy. I was personally chosen by Alpha Trion to guard him during what turned out to be the final days of the war."

Optimus spoke up with some curiosity in his voice. "You served under the master archivist?" Smokescreen replied with "I honestly wasn't thrilled at first, but the Big A turned out to be a great teacher, and a true friend. He even told me that he was the one who petitioned Halogen and the High Council to make you a Prime."

Optimus spoke again. "Do you know of Alpha Trion's fate? After the fall of Iacon?" Smokescreen's face fell and his voice turned sad at his answer. "I wish I did, but that was the last I ever saw of him." Optimus shuttered his optics and turned his helm down in sadness. He turned his helm back up when Smokescreen started speaking again.

"Well that's it...the story of how we got here in a 'Con escape-pod and my life's story. Not exactly the glory I had envisioned for myself...until now. Being here with Optimus Prime I knew I was destined for great things!" Smokescreen continued in his excitment "I mean now that you have help, how hard could it be to..." Skydive clamped a servo over Smokescreen's mouth before he could finish that sentence.

"Probably best not to fnish that sentence in a room full of war veterans." Skydive removed his servo and looked at Optimus. "He has a habit of running his mouth and saying the wrong things at the wrong time." Smokescreen looked at Skydive with indignance. "Hey, when have I ever let my mouth run ahead of my brain." Skydive looked at him sardonically and replied "Do you want me to answer that?"

Arcee looked to her little sister. "Are they always like this?" Moonracer looked at her with a small smile. "Yeah, pretty much. But don't let their bickering fool you, they've been close friends for quite a while now." Optimus regained everyone's attention. "Smokescreen, given that you and the others have little experience of living on Earth, I would suggest you and the others take some time to become acclimated to your new surroundings. A tour of the base would be an excellent start."

"Sure thing!" Miko announced, but Optimus looked at her. "I was referring to Jack; he is better able to keep his excitment under control." Miko sighed and sat back down on the couch. The new Autobots looked at Jack, who smiled at them.

Sideswipe looked away after a second and fixed his gazze on Arcee. "I don't suppose you could give me a more...private tour." Arcee looked at him for a second before she turned to Optimus. "I'm going for a drive." With that, she turned away from Sideswipe, transformed into her motorcycle-mode, and drove out of base. Sideswipe just turned to the others and said with a smile "She wants me, she just doesn't want to say so." They just looked at him dubiously.

* * *

While that was going on, In the mountains of Japan, Clan Lord Hiroshi and Clan Lady Yamamoto were discussing plans on what to do with Miko, Mako, and Asami. "Are you certain our children and our grandchild are hiding out in Jasper, Nevada?" Hiroshi looked to his wife. "I would not authorize a mission like this unless I was absolutely certain, you know that."

His wife continued without losing any of her confidence. "We also know he well-trained she is in deception and trickery. For all we know she could be in Paris, or Lusaka, or Brisbane." Hiroshi stopped and looked at her.

"It is true that she could be anywhere, but for one detail: she is a friend of the Autobots. The Clan knows for certain that their only a half-dozen Autobots on Earth, and with the exception of Wheeljack, they all share one base. The fact that the confirmed vehicle modes of several Autobots have been seen in Jasper all point to the same conclusion: that the Autobot base of operations is located near that town."

Lady Yamamoto nodded, but she wasn't done yet. "What if she contacts the Autobots? The squad you intend to lead has practically no defense against them should they be contacted." Hiroshi looked at her with a confident-but-not-to-confident look.

"I will ensure that we will be equipped with weapons sufficient to stun the Autobots long enough for us to escape, but I do not believe that we will encounter them. Our current understanding is that Miko wants to keep her motherhood a secret from everyone she meets for as long as possible. Miko will not contact the Autobots unless she is certain that their is absolutely no other choice."

Hiroshi and his wife continued to another part of the base. "We will ambush her, drive her into a tight spot without her realizing it, and subdue her and Mako before they feel like they should contact the Autobots. Besides, I did not pick these soldiers for no reason."

The opened a pair of automatic doors to reveal a training ground for Elite Assassins, the highest ranking soldiers used by the Clan. There are 20 Elite Assassins currently in the room; some were going over weapons nad armor maitenance, others were practicing with their close-range weapons, and still others were in the shooting range, practicing with a more compact version of the M.E.C.H. guns that have just as much power.

Hiroshi looked over the soldiers with calculating eyes. "These soldiers are some of the most talented and experienced fighters in the whole clan; they make the U.S. Army Rangers look like two-bit thugs. The weapons we are using are some of the most advanced we have available. In short, I believe we are as prepared as we can be."

Clan lady Yamamoto nodded and looked over at the training soldiers. She was naturally questioning by nature, always seeking to obtain a sure answer for everything. She agreed with her husband on one thing at least: these soldiers better be as prepared as possible...if they were to succesfully capture Miko, Mako, and Asami. Otherwise...well, there was no otherwise.

* * *

And thus, Part 3 of the Trials and Stories of Miko is complete. I introduced the new Autobots, revealed how Miko became pregnant, introduced the Decepticons, and I put a bit of tension for Team Prime to work through. Just as a reminder, the new Autobots are the Elite Guard recruit Smokescreen, the front-line fighter Sideswipe, the rookie flyer Skydive, Arcee's little sister Moonracer, and the former wrecker Outback; Smokescreen because he's already part of the TV show, Sideswipe because I thought it'd be fun, Skydive because I wanted a flyer, and Moonracer and Outback because they were only ever used in the Generation 1 TV series and not used after that due to copyright issues. I hope my depictions of them are accurate, and any problems you find with them I would like to hear...as long as it doesn't involve flaming. Please read and review, but do not flame unless you _really_ feel like you abso-freakin-lutely have to. Next chapter, the new Autobots work on fitting in at base, and Ratchet works on finding more energon to fill all the extra tanks in base. Miko feels sadness and relief upon Wheeljack leaving base, but now Jack is getting suspicious and starts asking a few questions. Meanwhile, Miko's father, Clan Lord Hiroshi, personally leads a squad of elite Clan assassins to find and capture Miko and her family, killing them if neccessary. How will the new Autobots adapt to the base? Will Hiroshi and his assassins succeed? What will Miko tell the Autobots if and when they find out about her past? find out the answers to these questions next time, on the next chapter of the Trials and Stories of Miko.


	4. IMPORTANT MESSAGE

**Attention people, it has come to my attention, via my friend THE NIGHT'S RAGE, that the government is reconsidering the signing of the SOPA Bill. For those who may not know, SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act, and it's intent is to expand the ability of U.S. Law Enforcement to combat online copyright-infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit materials. That bill would prevent search engines such as Google, Ask, Wikipedia, and Bing from linking to the found website links, prevent advertisement networks and payment facilities from conducting business with certain websites, and a number of internet service providers would have to block access to certain websites. It would also mean that people confirmed to be streaming copyrighted content without permission would receive 5 years in prison. Proponents state that SOPA will help protect the intellectual-property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against websites owned and operated by foreign nations. However, SOPA also threatens to inhibit the freedoms of speech and information, and law enforcement will be able to block access to entire internet domains if infringing content is posted on a single blog or post. Congress tried signing it a while back, and now their doing it again, but this time their going to try and do it more quietly. If it does get passed, then websites like YouTube, Wikipedia, the near infinite number of wikis across the internet, and Fanfiction will all be in danger of being shut down or greatly regulated by the government. And it's not just the American internet that's in peril; if SOPA is passed, it could start off a worldwide arms-race of unprecedented internet censorship. We the people of Fanfiction can help put a stop to this. Do not copy and paste this message, but you should spread the word, on and off the internet. Let as many people as you can tell, both on and off the internet, know about the SOPA Bill and what the consequences of it will be. Tell your friends in real life, post similar messages on your blogs, Fanfiction profile, Facebook page, Twitter page, and in your fanfiction and fanon stories. Tell others and spread the message, and together, we can get the government to drop the SOPA bill for good.**

**Till all are one, The Prime Writer.**


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